Do Bans on Harmful Marketing Protect Children Equally?: A geospatial analysis of harmful product marketing in public outdoor spaces

Keywords: alcohol, unhealthy food, gambling, SES, inequalities, obesity, New Zealand
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 23

Abstract

Children with greater exposure to the marketing of harmful products (e.g., alcohol) are likely to utilize those products earlier and participate in subsequent heavy consumption, which can affect health into adulthood. This study investigated (1) the spatial pattern of children's exposure to outdoor marketing of three types of "harms" (alcohol, unhealthy food, and gambling); and (2) the effectiveness and equity of potential outdoor marketing bans in places children frequent, focused on reducing disparities in exposures between children from high versus low deprivation households. We used data from 122 children (average 12y) who wore wearable cameras and GPS devices for two days in the Wellington region, New Zealand/Aotearoa. We estimated children's exposure across the study area and assessed the potential reduction in exposure based on eight banning scenarios by deprivation level. Banning marketing within 400m of bus stops showed the largest reduction in exposure (86%), followed by residential areas (59%), schools (42%), alcohol outlets (35%), and gambling outlets (30%). Prohibiting unhealthy food marketing in parks and sports fields would reduce exposure more for children from deprived households. Our findings show that outdoor marketing bans could greatly reduce children's estimated exposure to harmful marketing and that targeted bans could provide one avenue to lower inequalities in child health and downstream adult outcomes related to heavy consumption.