ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Food companies often use healthy lifestyle messages in child-directed advertising, raising public health concerns about health halo effects for nutrient-poor food/drinks. OBJECTIVE: Examine effects of health messages promoting nutrient-poor foods in child-directed advertising. METHODS: Randomized controlled experiment (N = 138). Children (7-11 years) viewed three child-friendly commercials in one of three conditions: (1) health halo (unfamiliar nutrient-poor food/drink ads with healthy messages); (2) nutrient-poor food/drink ads with other messages and (3) healthy food/drink ads. They rated the commercials and advertised products, provided attitudes about exercise and nutrition and consumed and rated healthy and unhealthy snack foods. RESULTS: Children in the health halo condition rated the advertised nutrient-poor products as significantly healthier compared with children in other conditions (p = .003), but the other commercials did not affect children's attitudes about other advertised products (p's > .50). Child age, gender or TV viewing habits did not significantly predict their ratings (p's > .18). There was no evidence that healthy lifestyle messages and/or healthy food commercials improved children's attitudes about nutrition, exercise or healthy snack consumption. CONCLUSION: Promoting healthy lifestyle messages in child-directed commercials for nutrient-poor food/drinks likely benefits brands by increasing products' perceived healthfulness, but these ads are unlikely to positively affect children's attitudes about health and nutrition.
