US Children Bombarded By Online Junk Food Marketing

Key TakeawaysAmerican kids are inundated with marketing messages for unhealthy foodChildren and teens are exposed to an average of nearly 4,000 food messages on digital media platforms every yearMore than 9 of 10 foods and drinks in the messages are considered unhealthy.TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Marketing for junk food inundates the smartphones and tablets of American children and teens, a new study says.Young people are exposed to an average of nearly 4,000 marketing messages for food every year on digital media platforms, researchers estimate.The findings were published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.More than 9 out of 10 (92%) of the foods and drinks featured in these messages are considered unhealthy, researchers added.And “the study may have underestimated overall exposure by limiting its focus to smartphones and tablets only,” lead researcher Lisa Powell, director of the Food Policy Research Program at the University of Illinois Chicago, said in a news release.For the new study, researchers recorded more than 1,000 kids between 8 and 17 years of age while they used their devices as they normally would for leisure activities during a half-hour session.All told, about 43% of kids 8 to 12 and 88% of teenagers 13 to 18 own smartphones, researchers said in background notes.“This approach provides a real-world picture of young people’s exposure across digital platforms, including social media, web browsing and mobile games,” Powell said. “It is the first U.S. real-time screen capture study, to our knowledge, to examine youth exposure to food marketing across digital media platforms and the largest globally to date.”Based on the participants, researchers estimated that young people see nearly 3,900 food marketing messages on digital media in a year.Teens 13 to 17 are exposed to more than 10,100 food messages a year, and kids ages 8 to 12 to more than 1,400, researchers estimated.Nearly 1 in 3 food messages (29%) involved fast food, followed by sweets (20%) and beverages and soda (20%), researchers said.Almost half of the marketed items came from companies participating in the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a voluntary food industry initiative to regulate how children experience food and beverage advertising, researchers noted.About 92% of the non-restaurant food — snack foods purchased from vending machines or stores — did not meet nutrient profile standards for healthy food, researchers said. Results showed that 83% of the food marketing came from social media, with TikTok and YouTube making up more than 50%. Gaming contributed to another 14%.About 49% of the messages were paid marketing, while another 44% were made up of unpaid user-generated social media content, including liked or shared posts, researchers said.If regulators want to crack down on this messaging, Powell warned it would not be easy.“Measuring exposure to and regulation of paid advertising on television is relatively straightforward, although no formal regulations exist in the U.S.,” Powell said. “But marketing in the digital landscape is more complex, and regulating it will be more challenging.”More informationThe Federal Trade Commission has more on food marketing to children and teens.SOURCES: University of Illinois-Chicago, news release, Nov. 9, 2026; JAMA Pediatrics, Nov. 9, 2026 .What This Means For YouParents should be aware that their kids are exposed to thousands of ads for unhealthy food on their smartphones and tablets every year..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

US Children Bombarded By Online Junk Food Marketing

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