The effectiveness of voluntary policies and commitments in restricting unhealthy food marketing to Canadian children on food company websites

Marketing unhealthy foods and beverages to children (M2K) fosters poor dietary patterns, increasing obesity and non-communicable disease risk. Federal restrictions on M2K have been under development in Canada since 2016; however, at present, M2K is mostly self-regulated by food companies. This study aimed to compare M2K on Canadian websites of food companies with and without voluntary policies or commitments in this area. A systematic content analysis of company websites was conducted in Spring/Summer 2017 for major packaged food (n=16), beverage (n=12) and restaurant chain (n=13) companies in Canada. M2K policies were sourced from company websites and published corporate documents. Sixteen companies (43%) reported national and/or global M2K policies, while 21 companies (57%) had no published policies. Companiesâ Canadian websites (n=154) were scanned for child-directed products and marketing; type and frequency of marketing techniques were recorded. Child-directed marketing appeared on 19 websites of 12 companies (32%), including 9 companies with M2K policies. Websites featured products with unconventional flavours, colours, shapes or child-oriented packaging, and used promotional characters, contests, games, activities or lettering and graphics appealing to children. The nutritional quality of products marketed to children was evaluated using a nutrient profile model developed by Health Canada for proposed M2K regulations. Of the 217 products marketed to children, 97% exceeded Health Canadaâ s proposed 5% DV threshold for saturated fat, sodium and/or sugars, 73% of which were products from 9 companies with policies. These findings highlight the limitations of self-regulation in restricting M2K on food company websites, reinforcing the need for government regulations.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author