UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

In response to concerns about unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children, the Council of Better Business Bureaus launched the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) self-regulatory program in 2007. This report assesses companies’ compliance with their pledges, the impact of industry voluntary improvements on children’s total exposure to TV and internet food advertising, and limitations in industry voluntary pledges after 10 years of self-regulation.

Using data from a 2017 Rudd Center Report, this infographic explains how restaurants advertise beverages on websites, inside restaurants, and at the counter, and whether they are promoting healthy options.

Considerable evidence has linked the experience of being teased or bullied because of weight to poor health. Yet few studies have explored how individuals cope with being mistreated because of their weight, or the role that coping responses to weight stigma may play in health outcomes. The findings of a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut show that coping responses to weight stigma help explain why experiencing weight stigma can affect negative or positive health outcomes. Coping with weight stigma by engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors (like exercise or eating healthy foods) was associated with better health, including greater self-esteem, better physical and psychological wellbeing, and less frequent depressive symptoms. Responding to weight stigma with negative emotions and maladaptive eating (such as starving, bingeing or purging) were linked with more depressive symptoms, lower selfesteem and worse physical and emotional health, according to the study. 

Children are viewing less food-related advertising, especially on children’s TV and the internet, since the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) industry self-regulatory program was launched in 2007, according to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. As part of the voluntary Initiative, major food and beverage companies pledged to shift the mix of foods advertised to children under 12 to encourage healthier dietary choices.

Yet children still see 10 to 11 food-related TV ads per day, promoting mostly unhealthy products including fast food, candy, sweet and salty snacks, and sugary drinks. Moreover, the majority of CFBAI companies have not responded to repeated calls from public health experts to further strengthen nutrition standards for products they identify as healthier dietary choices that can be advertised directly to children, expand the Initiative to cover children up to at least 14 years old, and expand the types of media covered by their pledges to include programming that children frequently view as well as all forms of marketing that appeal to children, such as mobile apps with branded games and YouTube videos.

Full citation: Himmelstein MS, Puhl RM, Quinn DM. Weight stigma and health: The mediating role of coping responses. Health Psychol. 2018;37(2):139-147. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000575

Full citation: Cooksey-Stowers K, Schwartz MB, Brownell KD. Food Swamps Predict Obesity Rates Better Than Food Deserts in the United States. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017;14(11):1366. Published 2017 Nov 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14111366

Full citation Pont SJ, Puhl R, Cook SR, Slusser W; SECTION ON OBESITY; OBESITY SOCIETY. Stigma Experienced by Children and Adolescents With Obesity. Pediatrics. 2017;140(6):e20173034. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-3034

Full citation: Asada Y, Hughes AG, Read M, Schwartz MB, Chriqui JF. High School Students’ Recommendations to Improve School Food Environments: Insights From a Critical Stakeholder Group. J Sch Health. 2017;87(11):842-849. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12562

Full citation: Robinson TN, Banda JA, Hale L, et al. Screen Media Exposure and Obesity in Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics. 2017;140(Suppl 2):S97-S101. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1758K

Full citation: Lapierre MA, Fleming-Milici F, Rozendaal E, McAlister AR, Castonguay J. The Effect of Advertising on Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics. 2017;140(Suppl 2):S152-S156. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1758V