Hostname: page-component-699b5d5946-nljwm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-05T04:16:35.637Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français
Accepted manuscript

Finnish children’s exposure to paid-for digital food advertising – The pilot study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2026

P Haario Open the ORCID record for P Haario [Opens in a new window] ,
E Koivurinta ,
P Mäki ,
MJ Gregório ,
K Wickramasinghe  and
H Kuusipalo
P Haario*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland
E Koivurinta
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland
P Mäki
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland
MJ Gregório
Affiliation:
Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Porto, Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal
K Wickramasinghe
Affiliation:
WHO Regional Office for Europe, UN City Marmorvej 51. DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark
H Kuusipalo
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland
*
Corresponding author: Peppi Haario, E-mail peppi.haario@thl.fi
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.
Objective:

To test the ‘Investigate Exposure’ step of the WHO’s CLICK framework, and to investigate 12–16-year-old children’s exposure to paid-for digital food advertising in Finland.

Design:

The DIGITUTKA pilot study was carried out as part of the EU Joint Action Best-ReMap project. Data on paid-for digital food advertising that children were exposed to via their phones over a two-weeks period were captured using the RealityMeter-application, following the ‘Investigate Exposure’ step of the CLICK framework. Data were collected between April and June 2022 and analyzed in Excel, following a protocol outlined by WHO Europe. The WHO Europe Nutrient Profile Model (v1, 2015) was used to determine marketing permission.

Setting:

Four schools in Finland

Participants:

6th-9th grade students (n=34)

Results:

Out of the 17 820 captured advertisements, 2316 (13%) were identified as food or beverage brands and products. The most commonly advertised products were convenience foods, composite dishes (16%, N=372), and energy drinks (9%, N=202). The majority of the food and beverage advertisements (N=1291, 56%) were not permitted to be marketed to children, with only one in ten (N=222, 9%) was permitted to be marketed to children. A third (35%) of the food and beverage advertisements could not be identified due to missing information.

Conclusions:

Children were exposed to a large number of food and beverage advertisements, most of which were not permitted to be marketed to children. To protect children’s health and prevent obesity, marketing restrictions should be combined with broader changes to the food environment and taxation.

Information

Type
Research Paper
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Accepted manuscript , pp. 1 - 23
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society