Seminar - October 2018

Food Advertising to Children

Dr Lisa Smithers, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, University of Adelaide

For the Food Values Research Group's October seminar, we are pleased to welcome Dr Lisa Smithers.

For many years it has been thought that the advertising of food influences what children eat. In 2012, we systematically reviewed the literature to estimate Australian children’s exposure to food advertising on television. We found only four studies of limited quality, and these studies had widely varying estimates of exposure. We then undertook one of the largest studies ever conducted on food advertising on television. Throughout 2016 we logged 30,000 hours of television and coded >800,000 advertisements. Our data shows that 11% of all advertising was for foods and beverages, with snack foods, crumbed meats, fast foods and sweetened beverages advertised the most. We estimated children’s exposure to food advertising at times when many children watch television and when C-rated programs are broadcast. Our large database of advertisements is now allowing us to extend the scope of our work to advertising of specific food products and advertising of food and alcohol during sports events.

When: Wednesday 3rd of October, 12-1 PM

Where: Ira Raymond Room, Barr Smith Library, North Terrace Campus, University of Adelaide (click here for campus map)

Dr Lisa Smithers has research interests in paediatric public health and nutrition, perinatal epidemiology, and Aboriginal health. Her work on food advertising to children can be found here.