Food industry donations to patient advocacy organisations focussed on non-communicable diseases.

Objective: This study used publicly available Form 990 tax documents to quantify food industry donations to patient advocacy organisations (PAO) dedicated to supporting patients with non-communicable diseases.

Design: Observational, cross-sectional assessment of significant national and international food industry donations to US-based non-communicable disease-focussed PAO between 2000 and 2018. Researchers recorded and categorised the: (1) frequency and value of donations; (2) reason for donation; (3) name and type of PAO recipient and (4) non-communicable disease focus of the PAO.

COVID-Washing in US Food and Beverage Marketing on Twitter: Content Analysis.

Background: Food companies have increased digital and social media ad expenditures during the COVID-19 pandemic, capitalizing on the coinciding increase in social media use during the pandemic. The extent of pandemic-related social media advertising and marketing tactics have been previously reported. No studies, however, have evaluated how food and beverage companies used COVID-washing on social media posts in the United States or analyzed the nutritional content of advertised food and beverage products.

Beverage Availability and Price: Variations by Neighborhood Poverty Level in New York City.

Objective: To describe the variability in the availability and price of sugary drinks, low-calorie drinks, and water/seltzer across high- and low-poverty census tracts in the five boroughs of New York City (NYC).

Design: Cross-sectional study. Our primary analysis compared the overall sample of beverages.

Informal Coping Strategies Among People Who Use Opioids During COVID-19: Thematic Analysis of Reddit Forums.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how people seeking to reduce opioid use access treatment services and navigate efforts to abstain from using opioids. Social distancing policies have drastically reduced access to many forms of social support, but they may have also upended some perceived barriers to reducing or abstaining from opioid use.

Objective: This qualitative study aims to identify informal coping strategies for reducing and abstaining from opioid use among Reddit users who have posted in opioid-related subreddits at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Qualitative Analysis of Black and White Adolescents' Perceptions of and Responses to Racially Targeted Food and Drink Commercials on Television.

Food and beverage marketing is a major driver of childhood obesity, and companies target their least nutritious products to Black youth. However, little is known about adolescents' perceptions of and responses to racially targeted food marketing. In this qualitative study, we investigated how Black and White adolescents perceived and responded to racially targeted television commercials for food and beverages.

Social Media Accounts of Food and Beverage Brands Have Disproportionately More Black and Hispanic Followers than White Followers.

On television, food companies promote their least nutritious products to Black and Hispanic youth more than White youth, but little is known about the extent to which Black and Hispanic adolescents may disproportionately engage with unhealthy food and beverage brands on social media relative to White adolescents. In 2019, we purchased and analyzed demographic data of social media users who followed 27 of the most marketed food/beverage brands on Instagram and Twitter. We used one-sample -tests to compare percentages of Black, Hispanic, and White followers of the selected brands' accounts versus all social media accounts, and independent samples -tests to compare followers of sugary versus low-calorie drink brands.

Understanding the Extent of Adolescents' Willingness to Engage With Food and Beverage Companies' Instagram Accounts: Experimental Survey Study.

Background: Social media platforms have created a new advertising frontier, yet little is known about the extent to which this interactive form of advertising shapes adolescents' online relationships with unhealthy food brands.

Objective: We aimed to understand the extent to which adolescents' preferences for Instagram food ads are shaped by the presence of comments and varying numbers of "likes." We hypothesized that adolescents would show the highest preferences for ads with more "likes" and comments.

Child Social Media Influencers and Unhealthy Food Product Placement.

Objectives: We aimed to determine the frequency with which kid influencers promote branded and unbranded food and drinks during their YouTube videos and assess the nutritional quality of food and drinks shown.

Methods: Researchers used Socialbakers data to identify the 5 most-watched kid influencers (ages 3 to 14 years) on YouTube in 2019. We searched for 50 of their most-watched videos and 50 of their videos that featured food and/or drinks on the thumbnail image of the video.

Comparison of online marketing techniques on food and beverage companies' websites in six countries.

Food and beverage marketing contributes to poor dietary choices among adults and children. As consumers spend more time on the Internet, food and beverage companies have increased their online marketing efforts. Studies have shown food companies' online promotions use a variety of marketing techniques to promote mostly energy-dense, nutrient-poor products, but no studies have compared the online marketing techniques and nutritional quality of products promoted on food companies' international websites.