Food marketing on the International Food and Beverage Alliance's Mexican websites during Covid-19.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the marketing strategies employed on the Mexican websites of the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) members and to evaluate whether these strategies appealed to children or adolescents. Additionally, we assessed the healthiness of marketed products using the Mexican Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) and the use of the Covid-19 pandemic as a marketing strategy.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

We conducted a content analysis of IFBA website members (including brands, foods, and beverages) during the Covid-19 lockdown in Mexico. The Mexican NPM was used to determine whether a product can be advertised to children. Codes (e.g., face masks, shields) were designed to determine whether a website used Covid-19 as a marketing strategy.

RESULTS

269 websites were analyzed. 95% had a link to social media, 74% used a social responsibility/philanthropy strategy, 60% appealed to children, 32% to adolescents, and 28% used a Covid-19 strategy. Furthermore, 89% of the products marketed were determined unhealthy according to the NPM.

CONCLUSIONS

During the Covid-19 pandemic, IFBA websites marketed their products to Mexican children and adolescents by using links to social media, philanthropy strategies, and adopting the pandemic as a marketing strategy, which contradicts IFBA's food marketing self-regulations. Evidence-based mandatory regulations should be reinforced.