Children today face a nonstop stream of sophisticated online marketing techniques that look nothing like the TV jingles and commercials of the past. Ads promoting ultra-processed and fast foods are affecting children’s cravings, routines, and physical health.
Children and Screens held the #AskTheExperts webinar “Online Marketing and Child Eating Habits: What to Know and What To Do” on Wednesday, November 19 2025. The webinar featured a panel discussion on the significant effects of modern food advertising on children, including:
-
- Why online food advertising can interfere with healthy food cues and rewards systems
- How high or problematic media use factors in
- How algorithmic targeting intensifies unhealthy food advertising to minoritized groups
- What parents can do to increase their own – as well as their children’s – awareness and combat advertising-driven unhealthy food behaviors and choices
Resources Mentioned During the Webinar
- Digital food marketing: what parents and caregivers need to know (Tip Sheet)
- Evidence-Based Recommendations to Mitigate Harms from Digital Food Marketing to Children Ages 2-17 (Report)
- Phone Free Schools Movement (Program)
- Fairplay (Organization)
- Child Social Media Influencers and Unhealthy Food Product Placement (Scholarly Article)
- TEDx Talk: The truth about dares on social media (Video)
- Genetic risk for obesity predicts nucleus accumbens size and responsivity to real-world food cues (Scholarly Article)
- Associations between everyday exposure to food marketing and hunger and food craving in adults: An ecological momentary assessment study (Scholarly Article)
- Television food advertisement exposure and FTO rs9939609 genotype in relation to excess consumption in children (Scholarly Article)
- Association of Food and Nonalcoholic Beverage Marketing With Children and Adolescents’ Eating Behaviors and Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (Scholarly Article)
- Elucidating pathways to pediatric obesity: a study evaluating obesity polygenic risk scores related to appetitive traits in children (Scholarly Article)
- Handbook of Children and Screens (Book)
00:00:11 – Introductions by Executive Director of Children and Screens Kris Perry.
00:01:47 – Moderator Dr. Kelly Brownell on marketing influences in the current media landscape.
00:12:07 – Dr. Jennifer Harris on how food marketing works and its impacts on youth.
00:22:07 – Moderator follow-up: Did the impact per dollar of food marketing increase in the digital age?
00:26:15 – Dr. Marie Bragg on social media influencers and targeted food marketing.
00:38:30 – Moderator follow-up: Are ads targeted at parents as well as children? What tactics should parents look out for?
00:39:49 – Moderator follow-up: Marketing seems to try to persuade consumers that some products are healthier than they actually are. Is this accurate?
00:41:31 – Dr. Diane Gilbert-Diamond on children’s reactivity to food cues in advertisements.
00:54:55 – Moderator follow-up: Are food companies using neuroscience research to develop marketing?
00:56:23 – The panel addresses questions from the audience.
00:56:40 – Q&A: Can you help parents understand some of the terms used today (e.g., “processed”, “ultra-processed”, “healthy”, “unhealthy”)?
00:59:39 – Q&A: How can parents protect their child from harmful dieting advice online?
01:01:29 – Q&A: What can parents do about food ads that come up while their children are playing online games or other types of digital media?
01:02:45 – Q&A: How do addictive feeds or social media algorithms exacerbate the problem of children’s exposure to digital marketing?
01:04:46 – Q&A: Aside from product promotion, are there other types of content children see on social media that could be harmful to their diet/nutrition?
01:09:01 – Q&A: Do children who overuse social media or video games have poor nutritional outcomes? If so, why is that?
01:13:17 -Q&A: Are certain types of food ads trendy for children on social media? What does the next generation look like? How sophisticated can the marketing get?
01:15:51 – Q&A: What advice do you have for parents to protect their children from food marketing?
01:19:18 – Q&A: What is your outlook on the future of policy in this space? Are you optimistic?
01:24:41 – Wrap-up with Children and Screens’ Executive Director Kris Perry.
A full transcript for this webinar will be made available soon.
Online Marketing and Child Eating Habits: What to Know and What To Do
Children today face a nonstop stream of sophisticated online marketing techniques that look nothing like the TV jingles and commercials of the past. How can parents safeguard children from the impacts of this endless, ever-present influx of food marketing content?
Suspicious minds: Adolescents' inferences of manipulative intent in retouched influencer ads
Young Children's (Aged 3 to 8 Years) Food and Beverage Brand Exposure on YouTube and YouTube Kids: An Observational Study and Content Analysis
Screens and Physical Health: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part One: Research Concerning Cognitive, Physical, Mental, and Psychosocial Impacts on Children, Screens and Physical Health Section (pages 61-116)
Driven to Distraction: Media Use, Attention, and Cognition
How do hours spent daily on digital media affect children’s attention spans, multitasking skills, and cognitive functions? How are digital platforms affecting how youth interact with the real world?