MARKETING MIX AS A DRIVER OF OBESITY EPIDEMIC IN CHILDREN

Pretilost djece ima izuzetno rastući trend i izazov je današnjice u kojem prednjače razvijene zemlje zapadne hemisfere. Zdravstveni regulatori širom svijeta imaju različite pristupe ovome problemu – od javno zdravstvenih kampanja do stroge regulacije ili zabrane oglašavanja prehrambenih proizvoda djeci. Većina se radova na ovu temu fokusira na tzv. marketing miks, dok se drugi elementi u kontekstu konzumacije nezdrave hrane i njenog potencijalnog utjecaja na epidemiju pretilosti kod djece nepravedno zanemaruju. Ovim se radom definira pojam marketing miksa te se analiziraju elementi marketing miksa koji se upotrebljavaju u marketinškim aktivnostima prodaje proizvoda maloj djeci. Svaki je element opisan zajedno s utjecajem na konzumaciju nezdrave hrane u populaciji djece te su prikazane moguće strategije kojima različite države nastoje utjecati na smanjivanje konzumacije nezdrave hrane. Napravljen je i kritički osvrt na takve strategije vezano za njihov uspjeh u prevenciji rasta epidemije pretilosti u djece. Zaključno, autor naglašava da je potrebno napraviti dodatna istraživanja kako bi se napravila analiza utjecaja svih elemenata marketing miksa na konzumaciju nezdrave hrane u dječjoj populaciji.Obesity in children become a worldwide epidemic, especially in developed world. Health care authorities all over the world have different approaches to obesity issues that range from public health campaigns to more restrictive approach to strictly regulate or ban advertising campaigns of foods marketed to children. Most of paper address only one marketing mix tool – promotion. Other tools are neglected in the context of non-healthy food consumption and potential impact to obesity epidemic in young children. This paper defines marketing mix and analyzes marketing mix tools used in marketing of food and beverage aimed at young children. Each tool is described with the impact to non-healthy food consumption among children together with possible strategies aimed to control non-healthy food consumption that are implemented in various countries and settings. These strategies are challenged related to their success in preventing obesity epidemic in young children. In conclusion, it is argued that future investigation is needed that would consider the impact of entire marketing mix to consumption of non-healthy food in young children