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The Food Marketing Defense Model: Integrating Psychological Research to Protect Youth and Inform Public Policy
Author(s) -
Harris Jennifer L.,
Brownell Kelly D.,
Bargh John A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
social issues and policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.798
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1751-2409
pISSN - 1751-2395
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-2409.2009.01015.x
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , marketing , food marketing , public health , public policy , business , action (physics) , social marketing , psychology , food safety , public relations , environmental health , political science , economics , medicine , economic growth , philosophy , linguistics , physics , nursing , quantum mechanics , pathology
Marketing practices that promote calorie‐dense, nutrient‐poor foods directly to children and adolescents present significant public health risk. Worldwide, calls for government action and industry change to protect young people from the negative effects of food marketing have increased. Current proposals focus on restricting television advertising to children under 12 years old, but current psychological models suggest that much more is required. All forms of marketing pose considerable risk; adolescents are also highly vulnerable; and food marketing may produce far‐reaching negative health outcomes. We propose a food marketing defense model that posits four necessary conditions to effectively counter harmful food marketing practices: awareness, understanding, ability, and motivation to resist. A new generation of psychological research is needed to examine each of these processes, including the psychological mechanisms through which food marketing affects young people, to identify public policy that will effectively protect them from harmful influence.