Unhealthy food and beverage advertising on social media: Examining state policies that restrict adolescents' access to social media

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages to adolescents has been consistently recognized as a prominent negative determinant of child health, shaping risk for diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Social media ads are particularly concerning given adolescents aged 13-18 years spend nearly 3 hours per day on social media platforms and see upwards of 17 food ads per hour. Up to this point, regulating advertising has been difficult in the United States, owing to court rulings that recognize companies’ ability to advertise as part of their First Amendment right to free speech in the US Constitution. However, a new path has emerged whereby states, led initially by Utah and followed by Louisiana, Texas, and others, have passed policies restricting anyone younger than 18 years from accessing social media without explicit parental approval. Some of these policies also restrict companies’ ability to market to adolescents on social media sites. We will study the influence of these policies on adolescents’ exposure to food and beverage advertising in Louisiana, (policy starts August 1st, 2024), and Texas (policy starts September 1st, 2024). We will enroll adolescents aged 13-17 years in Texas and Louisiana (among the first states to pass these laws), matched with comparison adolescents from states that do not have similar policies in place at the time of our study. We will utilize a proven yet innovative screen capture procedure to allow for as comprehensive as possible determination of youth’s full social media and online advertising exposure. Aim 1: Determine whether the social media policies in Texas and Louisiana reduce adolescents’ exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising online. H1: The policies will reduce online exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising for adolescents living in Texas and Louisiana versus a matched comparison sample. Aim 2: Determine whether lower income adolescents have a differential response to the policy than higher income adolescents. H2: The reduction in number of ads seen will be greater for lower income adolescents than for higher income adolescents. Aim 3: Determine the impact of the policy on all groups of children in the State. H3: The reduction in number of ads seen will be seen for all groups of children