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2. Master Thesis / Tesis Master
3. Faculty of Health Sciences / Fakulti Sains Kesihatan

Title:	Evaluation of food advertising practices targeting children on Malaysian television channels
Authors:	Ng See Hoe (P67272)
Supervisor:	Karuthan Chinna, Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Keywords:	Dissertations Academic- Malaysia
Issue Date:	23-Jul-2015
Description:	The World Health Organisation has urged an implementation of food regulation governing marketing that targets children. Unhealthy television food advertising (TvFA) influenced negatively on children's food habits, and it is the most dominant promotional medium worldwide. This study was designed to capture (i) TvFA in children's popular television (TV) channels in Phase I and (ii) its influences on children's attitudes and parental perception in Phase II. Phase I applied content analysis to randomly record live-telecasts (n=143) starting from August 2012 until August 2013. It aimed to detect (i) nature of TvFA during periods such as schooling days, school holidays, children's peak viewing time (PVT), festive seasons and (ii) understand the influence of ethnicspecific channels and examine persuasive marketing techniques. Coded food/ beverage advertisements were grouped into core (healthy), non-core (non-healthy), or miscellaneous (unclassified) food categories. Phase II used a pilot tested selfadministered 4-Likert scaled questionnaire targeting caregivers; while a questionnaire targeting children was interviewer-administered with a food album of 24 TV most advertised food products as a reference tool. Across all the cycles in Phase I, food and beverage were the most frequently advertised commercial products (3 to 5 food ads/hr/channel). TvFA was significantly dominated by non-core foods (p<0.05) for all broadcast periods, and rates were greater during school holidays compared to schooling days (3.53 vs 1.93 food ads/hr/channel, p<0.001). Sugar-sweetened beverages were the top most non-core food advertised on TV which tripled during school holidays (1.16 food ads/hr/channel). Almost all ratings for non-core foods were significantly higher during children's PVT (range from 2.62 to 4.60 food ads/hr/channel, p<0.05). An average rating of 1 to 2 food ads/hr/channel for non-core foods used promotional characters, and these were significantly higher during school holidays (p<0.001); whereas gift offers were less commonly offered by food advertisers (≤1 food ads/hr/channel). TvFA varied significantly as per ethnic-specific channels (p<0.001) and Indian channels had the lowest rates for TvFA. Phase II recruited 402 pairs of parent-child subjects representing equal ethnic parity. Children spent 3.03±1.52 hrs viewing TV daily. Children's TV viewing ≥3hrs influenced their attitudes on non-core foods through appealing commercials (ORfinal adj: 1.95; 95%CI: 1.28-2.99) and associated higher preferences on these foods (ORfinal adj: 2.43; 95%CI: 1.58-3.74). Overall, 9/10 surveyed caregivers agreed TvFA affected their children and supported regulating authority to ban on unhealthy TvFA. This study highlights non-core food advertising particularly sugary drinks dominated TvFA in Malaysia. This observation created parental concerns, therefore warranting regulatory attention and policy debates in the future.,Master
Pages:	241
Call Number:	QU145 .N576e 2015 9
Publisher:	UKM, Kuala Lumpur
Appears in Collections:	Faculty of Health Sciences / Fakulti Sains Kesihatan

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