摘要：We assessed the nutritional quality of branded food and beverage products advertised on 28 Web sites popular with children. Of the 77 advertised products for which nutritional information was available, 49 met Institute of Medicine criteria for foods to avoid, 23 met criteria for foods to neither avoid nor encourage, and 5 met criteria for foods to encourage. There is a need for further research on the nature and extent of food and beverage advertising online to aid policymakers as they assess the impact of this marketing on children. Children and youths often visit Web sites designed especially for them. 1 , 2 The top food and beverage advertisers on children's television have branded Web sites designed to appeal to children, 3 and these companies are innovators in the digital marketing ecosystem. 4 The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has established that food and beverage marketing encourages children to request and eat foods that are not good for them; therefore, the IOM has recommended a reduction in children's exposure to such marketing. 5 Evidence shows that online advertising builds favorable attitudes toward brands, regardless of whether site visitors remember seeing advertisements. 6 Yoo exposed undergraduate students to Web banner advertisements and found that students who had been exposed to an advertisement for a brand were more likely to choose that brand in a later test than were those not exposed to the advertisement for that brand. 6 To date, only a handful of studies in the United States 3 , 4 , 7 , 8 and Australia 9 have documented the evolving online food-marketing environment targeting children and youth. Moore 3 documented the range and extent of marketing techniques designed to engage children with company brands on food and beverage company Web sites. A 2007 report documented additional modes of targeting children and youth with food and beverage product marketing in the digital ageincluding mobile marketing, branding instant messaging, viral video, and commercializing online communities. 4 A content analysis of 10 children's Web sites found that the foods marketed on the sites were not well suited to a healthful diet. 7 Weber et al. found that the Web sites of 40 top food and beverage brands used “advergames” and cartoon characters to engage children with their brands. 8 The Australian study found similar engagement techniques and references to unhealthful branded foods on popular Australian Web sites targeted toward children. 9 In an attempt to provide further information on the food and beverage marketing to which children are exposed online, we examined Web sites popular with children to determine whether the sites contained depictions of branded foods and beverages. We also assessed the nutritional value of any marketed products on these Web sites and evaluated their appropriateness for school-age children.
