title: Does a 'protective' message reduce the impact of an advergame promoting unhealthy foods to children? An experimental study in Spain and The Netherlands.
abstract: The weight of evidence points to the advertising of food affecting food consumption, especially among children. Such advertising often promotes unhealthy foods. Current policy deliberations focus on developing effective 'protective' messages to increase advertising literacy and consequent scepticism about advertising targeting children. This study examined whether incorporating a 'protective' message in an advergame promoting energy-dense snacks would reduce children's snack intake. A randomized between-subject design was conducted in the Netherlands (N = 215) and Spain (N = 382) with an advergame promoting either energy-dense snacks or nonfood products. The results showed that playing an advergame promoting energy-dense snacks increased caloric intake in both countries, irrespective of whether the 'protective' message was present or not. These results point to the limitations of 'protective' messages and advertising literacy and provide policy makers with a rationale for extending the current prohibition of food advertising to young children in the terrestrial media to online environments.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Communication Science, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Information and Communication Science, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: f.folkvord@maw.ru.nl.
authors.forename: Frans
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Folkvord
authors.affiliation: Information and Communication Science, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lupiáñez-Villanueva
authors.affiliation: Information and Communication Science, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain; Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali e Politiche, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Codagnone
authors.affiliation: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bogliacino
authors.affiliation: University of Trento, Department of Sociology and Social Research, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Veltri
authors.affiliation: London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gaskell
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002657:Child Development; D002669:Child Welfare; D003142:Communication; D003463:Cues; D004032:Diet; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D019649:Food Industry; D005518:Food Preferences; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D000067010:Literacy; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D062410:Snacks; D013030:Spain; D018910:Video Games
keywords: Childhood obesity; Food advertisements; Food intake; Protective message