Parents' reactions to unhealthy food v. pro-health sponsorship options for children's sport: an experimental study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore parents' responses to sponsorship of children's sport by unhealthy food brands and two alternative pro-health sponsorship options. DESIGN: Between-subjects online experiment with four sponsorship conditions: (i) non-food branding (control); (ii) unhealthy food branding; (iii) healthier food branding; (iv) public health nutrition campaign branding. Participants were shown a short video and a promotional flyer for a fictional junior sports programme, with sponsor content representing their assigned brand. Afterwards, participants were asked a series of questions assessing their brand awareness, brand attitudes and preference for food sponsor branded products. SETTING: Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Australian parents (n 1331) of children aged 6-9 years. RESULTS: Compared with the control condition, unhealthy food sponsorship promoted increased awareness, branded product preferences and favourable attitudes towards unhealthy food sponsor brands. Healthier food sponsorship promoted similar effects for healthier food sponsor brands, except there was no significant increase in positive attitudes towards these brands. Sponsorship by public health nutrition campaigns promoted more negative attitudes towards unhealthy food sponsor brands and increased preference for healthier food sponsor branded products. Overall, healthier food sponsors and public health campaign sponsors were perceived to have better programme-sponsor fit and to be more appropriate sponsors of children's sport than unhealthy food sponsors. CONCLUSIONS: Restrictions on unhealthy food sponsorship of children's sport are needed to prevent unhealthy food brands from exploiting junior sport sponsorship to enhance their appeal. Sponsorship of children's sport by healthier food brands or public health nutrition campaigns could help promote healthier food choices among parents.

Parent's responses to nutrient claims and sports celebrity endorsements on energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods: an experimental study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess parents' responses to common, potentially misleading strategies for marketing energy-dense and nutrient-poor (EDNP) child-oriented foods. DESIGN: Between-subjects online experiment to test whether nutrient claims and sports celebrity endorsements on the front of packs of EDNP products lead parents to prefer and rate these foods more favourably. SETTING: Australia. SUBJECTS: A total of 1551 parents of children aged 5-12 years, who were the main household grocery buyers. RESULTS: Inclusion of nutrient claims or sports celebrity endorsements on EDNP products led parents to perceive these products to be more nutritious than if they did not include such promotions. When asked to choose between a pair of different products (EDNP v. healthier), 56 % of parents did not read a nutrition information panel (NIP) before making their choice and this did not differ by promotion condition. These parents were more likely to choose an EDNP product if it included a nutrient claim (OR = 1.83, 95 % CI 1.31, 2.56; P < 0.001) or sports celebrity endorsement (OR = 2.37, 95 % CI 1.70, 3.32; P < 0.001). Sports celebrity endorsements also enhanced parent's perceptions of typical consumers of the product, perceptions of product healthiness and quality, as well as purchase intentions. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrient claims and sports celebrity endorsements tip consumer preferences towards EDNP products bearing such promotions, especially among the majority who do not read the NIP. As parents largely determine what foods are available to children at home, it is critical that initiatives aimed at reducing the persuasive impact of food marketing include this target group.