Marie Bragg, PhD (Assistant Professor of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine) discusses research findings showing how “likes” influenced adolescents’ receptiveness to food ads on social media, and how the new interactive nature of social media ads can tap into adolescent brain development, at the #AskTheExperts webinar “Online Marketing and Children’s Eating Habits: What to Know and What To Do” on Wednesday, November 19 2025.
Read the Video Transcript
[Dr. Marie Bragg]: We know that “likes” are powerful social norms signals. We did a really simple study where we had one group of adolescents look at an ad of somebody drinking a soda, and we put 100 “likes” on the ad. We just used Photoshop. We had a different group of adolescents look at the same ad, but we put 10,000 “likes” on it. And what we found, unsurprisingly, is that adolescents thought that the high “likes” ad was way cooler, trendier. They were more willing to share it with friends. And so even just that social signal of “what’s cool” really dramatically changed how adolescents felt about that particular ad.
View the Full Webinar
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?
Kelly Brownell, PhD
Dean Emeritus
Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Marie Bragg, PhD
Assistant Professor of Population Health
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Jennifer Harris, PhD
Senior Research Advisor
UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health
Diane Gilbert-Diamond, ScD
Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Pediatrics
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Protecting Children In the New World of Online Advertising
Tips to help families understand the scope and impacts of the new world of online marketing to kids
The Good, the Bad, and the Filtered: A Social Media Primer for Parents
Experts provide a practical “how-to,” breaking down what parents really need to know about social media platforms.
Copycat: Social Contagion, Online Viral Behavior, and Youth
What should parents and caregivers know about vulnerability to social contagion—and how is it being supercharged by the large volume of digital content and social media algorithms?
The Influencer Impact
A Parent's Guide to Influencers
Healthy Habits: Fostering Physical Health in a Digital World
What does physical wellness look like in an increasingly digital world?