Assessing the prevalence and youth-directed marketing power of outdoor food and beverage advertisements around schools in six cities across Canada.

Abstract

Recent policy initiatives in Canada propose to restrict the commercial advertising of foods containing sugars, sodium, or saturated fat to youth on digital and broadcast media. While there is abundant research on youth’s exposure to food and beverage advertising on digital and broadcast media, there is limited research exploring youth’s exposure to outdoor food and beverage advertisements (e.g., freestanding billboards, restaurant exteriors, bus shelters). To address this research gap and inform policy decisions, Manuscript 1 of this thesis describes the prevalence, content, and youth-directed marketing power of outdoor food and beverage advertisements near schools. Manuscript 2 of this thesis explores the association between outdoor F&B advertisement prevalence, food outlet density, degree of urbanization, neighbourhood deprivation, and ethnocultural composition near schools to understand how the built environment and neighbourhood characteristics influence outdoor advertising environments. For this research, data on outdoor advertisements and food outlets within 1000 m of elementary and secondary schools in six cities across Canada (Vancouver, BC; Calgary, AB; Winnipeg, MB; Ottawa, ON; Quebec City, QC; and Halifax, NS) was analyzed, along with Statistics Canada data on deprivation and ethnocultural composition (from the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation). Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and negative binomial regression models were used to analyze the data. Most (64.5%) outdoor F&B advertisements near schools promote “unhealthy” food and beverage products. The most common marketing techniques used to target youth were youth product/convenience (39.4%), sense of urgency/limited time offer/seasonal (18.4%), and price promotion/discount (13.1%). School areas with high food outlet counts contained 7.429 times more advertisements than those with low counts (CI: 4.805 – 11.486, p < 0.05). The mean count of outdoor advertisements on food outlet exteriors (M = 23.22, SD = 35.52) was 10.6 times higher than the mean count of freestanding outdoor advertisements (M = 2.18, SD = 3.94), revealing that most outdoor F&B advertisements around schools are located on food outlets. Measures for deprivation and ethnocultural composition were not found to have notable patterns of significance with outdoor advertisement, except for residential instability. School areas with a high degree of residential instability contained 1.707 times more advertisements than the school areas with a low degree of residential instability (CI:1.029 - 2.832, p < 0.05). These findings suggest outdoor F&B advertisements near schools primarily promote unhealthy food choices and advertisement prevalence is influenced by features of the built environment, such as food outlet density. Future research should explore the impact of planning and public health policy interventions to reduce outdoor food and beverage advertising to youth. Opportunities for these professions (as well as other relevant disciplines) to collaborate to create healthier food environments for youth should also be identified.