Study: Junk food promotion is a staple of 'kidfluencer' videos on YouTube

New research sounds the alarm about the promotion of junk food by YouTube 'kidfluencers’. — miodrag ignjatovic/IStock.com/AFP

With more than 41 million children categorised as overweight in 2016, a new study highlights a worrying problem for parents to contend with: the promotion of junk food by child influencers on YouTube. From product placement to overt advertising, junk food seems to be a staple feature of certain "kidfluencer" videos. In light of this, researchers are calling for tighter regulation of this kind of advertising.

Junk food advertising targeting children is a problem in many countries, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recently identified food marketing as one of the factors driving childhood obesity. New findings from researchers at the NYU School of Global Public Health and the NYU Grossman School of Medicine in the United States, published in the journal Pediatrics, highlight a new form of junk food advertising from child influencers on YouTube.