Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 4 — Narrative / commentaryNGO report

Feeding for Profit: Protecting children from harmful commercial marketing

UNICEF

2025

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Summary

This UNICEF report analyses the commercial marketing practices targeting children for unhealthy food and beverage products, drawing on global evidence to document the scale of exposure and associated health risks. It likely evaluates the inadequacy of voluntary industry commitments and existing national regulatory frameworks in curbing harmful marketing. The report concludes with policy recommendations aimed at governments, international bodies, and industry to strengthen mandatory restrictions on child-directed food marketing.

UK applicability

Findings are globally scoped but are directly applicable to the UK context, where the Government has introduced restrictions on advertising high fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) products to children, and where ongoing debate continues around the scope and enforcement of such regulations across digital platforms.

Key measures

Prevalence and reach of child-directed food marketing; regulatory coverage and enforcement gaps; exposure metrics across digital and traditional media channels; nutritional profile of marketed products

Outcomes reported

The report examines the scale, tactics, and health impacts of commercial marketing of unhealthy food and beverage products directed at children, and assesses the adequacy of existing regulatory frameworks to protect children from such marketing.

Theme
Marketing, media & food environments
Subject
Food marketing regulation & child health
Study type
Policy
Study design
Policy report
Source type
NGO report
Status
Published
Geography
Global
System type
Food supply chain
Catalogue ID
XL1197

Topic tags

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