Marketing and Promotion of Foods and Beverages at School

Food and beverage marketing often appears throughout schools in the form of posters, vending machine fronts, in-school television advertisements, school newspapers, textbook covers, sports equipment, and scoreboards. 1,2 Many foods marketed in schools are of poor nutritional quality. 3-5 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Medicine, and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that school districts implement policies and practices to promote foods and beverages that support healthful diets. 1,6-11 The following discussion highlights areas where policy opportunities exist, as well as areas where policies are well-established relative to food marketing, promotion, and messaging in schools. This brief summarizes the range of policy actions taken by public school districts from the 2011–2012 school year, from the Bridging the Gap (BTG) study. All policies were collected and coded by BTG researchers using a standardized method based on evidence-based guidelines and recommendations from expert organizations and agencies. 11,12 Complete details about how these data were collected and compiled are available in the companion methods documentation. 13 WHAT ACTIONS HAVE SCHOOL DISTRICTS TAKEN? School district wellness policies about food marketing, promotion, and messaging in schools can impact students’ eating behaviors. 1 As shown in Figure 1, during the 2011–2012 school year, the BTG study found tha