The food and beverage marketing monitoring framework for Canada: Development, implementation, and gaps

Abstract

As many countries are considering the restriction of marketing to children for unhealthy foods and beverages to improve population health, systematic monitoring of this marketing to inform and evaluate policies is critical. The objective of this research was to develop and describe the Food and Beverage Marketing Monitoring Framework for Canada, a framework commissioned by Health Canada to help guide their monitoring efforts. Following a literature review and expert consultation, the questions to be answered by the framework, the frequency and scope of monitoring activities, the short-/long- term outcome indicators and the methodologies to be employed were determined. The resulting Framework aims to assess the frequency and power of food marketing in various media and settings and monitor children and adolescents’ exposure to food marketing, food company practices, and changes in children’s attitudes, behaviours, and health. It proposes that monitoring occur annually in six regions across Canada. Considering probable budget constraints and research capacity, television, digital media, schools, convenience stores, packaging and children’s sport/event sponsorship were identified as priority media/settings. Short- and long-term outcomes include: food marketing (e.g., advertising rate, marketing technique use), company-level (e.g., ad expenditures, product reformulation) and behavioral/health indicators (e.g., children’s marketing awareness and recall, food requests and consumption). While significant efforts have been made in monitoring food marketing in Canada via the implementation of the Framework into the Health Canada M2K Monitoring Strategy, gaps remain (e.g., within diverse sociodemographic groups). The Framework can be leveraged to inform policy in Canada and the development process and content of the Framework could be adapted and implemented for global use.