Food and Beverage Content on YouTube Videos Targeting Children: A Descriptive Analysis

Öz

Objective: Research shows that most of the food advertisements in YouTube videos belong to unhealthy and processed foods and this platform lacks control. In this research, it is aimed to evaluate the advertisements in the most viewed videos on the most watched children’s YouTube channels in terms of food and beverage content. Methods: The five most-watched videos (345 videos in total) on each of the 69 channels, selected by ratings on YouTube, were watched. The videos and all the advertisements shown during videos were assessed according to the determined criteria through the data collection form prepared by the researchers. Results: No ad was displayed in 21.2% of the videos watched. The subjects of advertisements in the videos were mostly “mobile games”, “computer games” and “toys” (27.9%; 22.7%; 13.9%, respectively). Of the videos, 7.4% were about food, 2% drinks, and 0.1% both. The most advertised foods were chocolate, chewing gum, and cake. Of the 345 videos analyzed, 28.1% contained food and 6.1% beverages, regardless of the advertisements. In 76.2% of the videos, there were no messages about nutrition and food. There were some characters eating healthily/ encouraging a healthy diet in 12.5% of all videos and some characters eating unhealthily/encouraging an unhealthy diet in 11.3%. While 46.2% of the fairy tale/story-themed videos contained characters and messages encouraging healthy eating, the videos about computer games did not include messages about nutrition. Conclusion: There is a need for regulations regarding advertising on digital platforms. It is also vital to monitor the industry to make visible the current threats to childhood obesity.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Advertisement
• child
• food industry
• social marketing
• video

Çocukları Hedefleyen YouTube Videolarında Yiyecek ve İçecek İçerikleri: Tanımlayıcı Bir Analiz

Öz

Amaç: Araştırmalar, YouTube videolarındaki gıda reklamlarının çoğunun sağlıksız ve işlenmiş gıdalara ait olduğunu ve bu platformun kontrolden yoksun olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu araştırmada en fazla izlenen çocuklara yönelik YouTube kanallarında, en fazla görüntülenen videolarda, yer alan reklamların yiyecek ve içecek içerikleri açısından değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Yöntem: YouTube’da izlenme sıklıklarına göre seçilen 69 kanalın her birinde en çok izlenen beş video (toplam 345 video) izlenmiştir. Videolar ve videolar sırasında gösterilen tüm reklamlar, araştırmacılar tarafından hazırlanan veri toplama formu ile belirlenen kriterlere göre değerlendirilmiştir. Bulgular: İzlenen videoların %21,2’sinde reklam gösterilmemişti. Videolarda en fazla yer alan reklam konuları “mobil oyunlar”, “bilgisayar oyunları” ve “oyuncaklar” (sırasıyla %27,9; %22,7; %13,9) idi. Reklamların %7,4’ü yiyecekler, %2’si içecekler, %0,1’i ise her ikisi hakkındaydı. En fazla reklamı yapılan yiyecekler çikolata, sakız ve kekti. Araştırmada izlenen tüm videoların %28,1’i reklamdan bağımsız olarak yiyecek; %6,1’i içecek içeriyordu. Videoların %76,2’sinde beslenme ve gıda ile ilgili herhangi bir mesaj yoktu. Tüm videoların %12,5’inde sağlıklı beslenen/sağlıklı beslenmeyi teşvik eden; %11,3’ünde ise sağlıksız/sağlıksız beslenmeyi teşvik eden karakterler vardı. Masal/hikâye temalı videoların %46,2’sinde sağlıklı beslenmeyi teşvik eden karakter ve mesajlar bulunurken, bilgisayar oyunları ile ilgili videolarda beslenme ile ilgili mesajlara yer verilmemişti. Sonuç: Dijital platformlarda reklam verme konusunda düzenlemelere ihtiyaç bulunmaktadır. Ayrıca, çocukluk çağı obezitesi ile ilgili mevcut tehditleri görünür kılmak için endüstrinin izlenmesi hayati önem taşımaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• çocuk; gıda endüstrisi
• reklam; sosyal pazarlama; video

Kaynakça

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