title: Analysis of television food advertising on children's programming on "free-to-air" broadcast stations in Brazil.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the content of television food advertising on Brazilian 'free-to-air' broadcast stations during children's programming.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a descriptive study which evaluated the content of food advertising between 08:00 a.m. and 06:00 p.m. on three Brazilian 'free-to-air' broadcast stations (A, B and C). Data collection was performed during 10 week days and weekends. Food advertising was organized according to the food group classification from the Food Guide for the Brazilian Population. The annual exposure to food advertising was obtained considering the national children average exposure to television of five daily hours. The χ2 and Fisher's exact test were conducted in order to identify differences in the content of television advertising in the morning and in the afternoon and between broadcast stations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and twenty six hours of programming were recorded, totalizing 1,369 commercials - 13.8% of food. There was major participation of 'sugars and sweets' (48.1%) and 'oils and fats' (29.1%) among food advertising and much food publicity in the afternoon (15.7%; morning: 12.2%, p = 0.037). Moreover, the broadcast with more audience was the one that advertised more food (A: 63.5%; B: 12.2%; C: 24.3%), especially 'sugar and sweets' (A: 59.2%; B: 43.5%; C: 21.7%). Finally, an annual average exposure to 2,735.5 commercials was obtained for Brazilian children, totalizing 2,106.3 of food rich in sugar and fat publicity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Food advertising is focused on poor nutritionally food, emphasizing the need for specific intervention strategies.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Suzane Mota Marques
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paula Martins
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Horta
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luana Caroline Dos
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D005502:Food / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D013690:Television / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*