Food advertising and eating behavior in children

- Food advertising focuses particularly on unhealthy and palatable food products.
- Food advertising is considered to be a significant contributor to obesity.
- New forms of food marketing subconsciously affect children's eating behavior.
- We present an integration of empirical findings in a new theoretical framework.

Systematic research reviews have repeatedly shown that food advertising affects children's eating behavior. Given that most food advertising promotes unhealthy, palatable, and rewarding food products, it is considered to be a significant contributor to the current obesity epidemic. This review describes recent studies that have tested the effect of contemporary food advertisements on children's eating behavior, including newly emerging data showing marketing effects on subconscious cognitive processes and studies illuminating the mechanistic underpinnings of these effects. In addition, this review presents an integration of empirical findings in a new theoretical framework that increases the understanding of the effects of food advertising on eating behavior and might be used for future research in this area.