The MAHA Report and Child-Directed Food Advertising: A Call for Industry Action
Containing over 120 proposed initiatives, the Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy Report reflects the complexity of the problem of childhood chronic disease and the magnitude of the effort required to solve it. Effectively addressing the many factors that contribute to childhood chronic disease requires an all-society approach that includes proactive industry action.
Interestingly, the report directly calls for industry action in food advertising to children, recommending that the Federal Trade Commission and other federal agencies explore the development of industry guidelines to limit the direct advertising of certain foods to children.
What the authors of the report may not know is that since 2007, leading food and beverage companies have voluntarily abided by child-directed marketing standards through their participation in BBB National Programs’ Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI). These companies collectively account for most food and beverage advertising in the US.
Companies participating in CFBAI commit not to advertise any foods and beverages in child-directed media unless the foods and beverages meet CFBAI’s nutrition criteria. Most CFBAI participants have gone further and no longer engage in any child-directed advertising at all.
As a result of these voluntary efforts, the children’s food advertising landscape has changed. Much less food advertising is directed to children on television and online. A 2024 study discovered a decade of decline in such advertising, noting a 96% reduction in children’s exposure to food advertising on children’s TV programming from 2013 to 2022. In digital media, recent studies likewise found minimal exposure of children to food ads on popular apps.
Moreover, any foods that CFBAI companies advertise in child-directed media now must meet nutrition criteria, a requirement that did not exist before CFBAI was created. These criteria have not only changed the foods that CFBAI participants advertise to kids under 13 but have also spurred product reformulations that improved many foods’ nutritional profiles. Foods like candy, soda, and ice cream are no longer advertised to children by companies in CFBAI because they do not meet the program’s nutrition criteria.
The message from the MAHA report is clear: policymakers expect industry to address food advertising to children—or government intervention will. The actions of participants in CFBAI are equally clear: observable, measurable results of CFBAI commitments prove that leading food and beverage advertisers are already answering that call.
And as the children’s food advertising landscape has changed, so has CFBAI. Program requirements have been updated over the years to address evolving nutrition knowledge as well as advertising and marketplace developments much more quickly and at lower cost than would have been possible with government regulations.
CFBAI demonstrates the valuable role that accountable industry self-regulation can play in addressing the complex problem of childhood chronic disease. We encourage more companies to join CFBAI in our ongoing efforts to improve child-directed food advertising.
Interestingly, the report directly calls for industry action in food advertising to children, recommending that the Federal Trade Commission and other federal agencies explore the development of industry guidelines to limit the direct advertising of certain foods to children.
What the authors of the report may not know is that since 2007, leading food and beverage companies have voluntarily abided by child-directed marketing standards through their participation in BBB National Programs’ Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI). These companies collectively account for most food and beverage advertising in the US.
Companies participating in CFBAI commit not to advertise any foods and beverages in child-directed media unless the foods and beverages meet CFBAI’s nutrition criteria. Most CFBAI participants have gone further and no longer engage in any child-directed advertising at all.
As a result of these voluntary efforts, the children’s food advertising landscape has changed. Much less food advertising is directed to children on television and online. A 2024 study discovered a decade of decline in such advertising, noting a 96% reduction in children’s exposure to food advertising on children’s TV programming from 2013 to 2022. In digital media, recent studies likewise found minimal exposure of children to food ads on popular apps.
Moreover, any foods that CFBAI companies advertise in child-directed media now must meet nutrition criteria, a requirement that did not exist before CFBAI was created. These criteria have not only changed the foods that CFBAI participants advertise to kids under 13 but have also spurred product reformulations that improved many foods’ nutritional profiles. Foods like candy, soda, and ice cream are no longer advertised to children by companies in CFBAI because they do not meet the program’s nutrition criteria.
The message from the MAHA report is clear: policymakers expect industry to address food advertising to children—or government intervention will. The actions of participants in CFBAI are equally clear: observable, measurable results of CFBAI commitments prove that leading food and beverage advertisers are already answering that call.
And as the children’s food advertising landscape has changed, so has CFBAI. Program requirements have been updated over the years to address evolving nutrition knowledge as well as advertising and marketplace developments much more quickly and at lower cost than would have been possible with government regulations.
CFBAI demonstrates the valuable role that accountable industry self-regulation can play in addressing the complex problem of childhood chronic disease. We encourage more companies to join CFBAI in our ongoing efforts to improve child-directed food advertising.