Exploratory study about food choice and children's susceptibility to food advertising

• Grant number: 15/22612-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2016
• End date: November 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Sebastião de Sousa Almeida
• Grantee: Isabela Pizzarro Rebessi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Childhood obesity is an issue that has been growing in several countries and can be considered a public health matter. It is caused not only by biological factors, but for social and environmental factors as well, such as food advertising aired on television, which can contribute to increase the problem through its influence on children's food choices. Nacional and international studies show that the category of food advertisement is always between the most transmitted ones, in most cases presenting unhealthy options. The aim of this study is to evolve and test an intervention protocol to decrease the suscetibility of eight and nine years old children to advertising aired on television, focusing on food advertising. Forty children from a particular school will compose the sample. The experimental group will receive na intervention made by the researcher with the aim of clarifing the true intention of advertisement and its persuasion techniques, such as the nutritional quality of the transmitted food. At the end of the study, children's food choices will be compared and the data of the non-verbal scale will be submited to a normality test in order to decide for a parametric or non-parametric statistics.