Junk food, children eat more after just five minutes of advertising exposure

Food · Carlotta Garancini · 2025-05-28

After five minutes of exposure to junk food advertising, children consume more calories: the study presented at the European Congress on Obesity.

Exposure to junk food advertising leads children to consume more calories.
This is what emerged from a study conducted on 240 children aged seven to fifteen.
According to experts, tackling childhood obesity requires regulating the food industry.

Five minutes of advertising for junk food leads children to eat more and take in excess calories, thereby increasing the risk of obesity among the youngest. This is the finding of a study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga in May.

In particular, children who watched or listened to advertising for ultra-processed products high in saturated fats, sugars and salt consumed an average of 130 extra calories.

The study on junk food advertising and children

The study involved 240 children aged seven to fifteen, from schools in Merseyside, England. On two separate occasions, they were shown five minutes of junk food advertising and then five minutes of non-food advertising. Afterwards, they were offered some snacks and, later, a lunch.

cibo spazzatura — Food consumption was not influenced by the type of media through which the advertising was delivered © iStock

According to the data collected, children consumed 58 extra calories in snacks and 73 extra calories at lunch after exposure to junk food advertising compared to what they consumed after exposure to non-food advertising. Caloric intake was not influenced by advertising for specific foods compared to generic fast food brands, nor by the medium used for the advertising (TV, radio, billboards, social media).

"This is the first study to demonstrate that food advertising affects what children eat," said Emma Boyland, lead author of the study and professor of food marketing and child health at the University of Liverpool, as reported by the Guardian. "We also showed that children not only eat more immediately after food advertising, but also eat more at lunch, a couple of hours after seeing the advertising." The foods offered to children in the study were not the same ones shown in the advertisements and were presented without any branding. "The children were not being driven to purchase that specific food or to go to a fast food restaurant, but simply to eat what was available."

cibi ultra-processati — Ultra-processed foods are industrial foods high in salt, sugar, fats and additives such as colourings and emulsifiers © iStock

According to experts, tackling the childhood obesity crisis is impossible without regulating the food industry. From next October, the English government will introduce new restrictions to limit advertising for unhealthy foods on TV before 9pm and online advertising, but experts are calling for more to be done to restrict advertising overall and to push companies to promote healthier alternatives.