Empty pledges: a content analysis of Belgian and Dutch child-targeting food websites

In the EU Pledge, food and beverage companies voluntarily engage themselves to stop marketing unhealthy foods and beverages to children under age 12. However, children are increasingly exposed to online marketing promoting unhealthy foods and beverages. The main purpose of this paper was to verify whether Belgian and Dutch pledge members' child-targeting food websites actually comply to the guidelines of the EU Pledge. First, this paper describes the prominence of online marketing on 49 Belgian and Dutch child-targeting food websites and evaluates the nutrient content of the advertised foods and beverages. Second, it checks for the degree to which Belgian and Dutch food brands abide the EU Pledge. Results indicated that about 88.5% of the online-promoted products were unhealthy, whereas marketing features were still present at every website. The nutrient profile of the online-promoted foods and beverages did not differ significantly between pledge and non-pledge members. Only 8.2% of the websites used age blocks, whereas ad-break reminders were completely absent. We conclude that the food and beverage companies do not abide their vows: Children still have unlimited access to websites promoting unhealthy food.