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Exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising during the school commute in Australia
journal contribution
posted on 2021-12-01, 00:00 authored by G Trapp, P Hooper, Lukar ThorntonLukar Thornton, K Kennington, A Sartori, N Wickens, W BillinghamBackgroundFood marketing exposure has the potential to influence children’s dietary behaviours and health status, however, few studies have identified how ‘obesogenic’ the outdoor food marketing environment is along public transport (bus and/or train) or walking routes that children take to school.MethodsAudits of all outdoor advertisements present along likely train, bus and walking routes to 24 secondary schools (ie, 3 routes per school, 72 routes total) were conducted in Perth, Western Australia (WA). The size, content, type and setting of each advertisement were recorded in accordance with the International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support protocol for monitoring outdoor advertising.ResultsOf the 4016 total advertisements observed, almost half were for food (n=1754, 44%) and of these, 80% (n=1397) advertised discretionary (non-core) foods, and 8% (n=138) advertised healthy (core) foods. On average, commuting to school by train, bus and walking exposed Perth schoolchildren to 37.1, 22 and 4.5 discretionary (non-core) food ads per one-way trip to school, respectively.ConclusionsChildren living in Perth, WA experience a high level of exposure to unhealthy outdoor food advertisements during the school commute. Policies which restrict the placement and content of outdoor advertising, could be a useful strategy in the fight against childhood obesity.
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Journal
Journal of Epidemiology and Community HealthVolume
75Issue
12Pagination
1232 - 1235Publisher
BMJLocation
EnglandPublisher DOI
ISSN
0143-005XeISSN
1470-2738Language
enPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalUsage metrics
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