Junkfood and social media and…er… on another tangent entirely Easons café and leftists of our acquaintance…

 

 

This is kind of disturbing. Many will know that there are submerged realms on the internet which adults are only vaguely aware of which children are keenly interested in. For example, for some of you the name Stampylongnose will mean something. For those who don’t well knock yourselves out googling him. Let’s just say he’s something of a folk hero amongst certain circles of Minecraft devotees with long drawn out youtube videos of his world. Another example – I was in Easons last Saturday and there were massive queues of early to mid-teens, mostly female. Apparently a v-logger was appearing. Kudos, in a way, to Eason’s for keeping up to speed with such matters.

Now, in a way that’s innocuous enough, one hopes. But this isn’t:

Food companies are increasingly using hidden tactics and emotional persuasion to market unhealthy food to young people online, according to a report.

The growth in digital marketing of unhealthy food and drinks highlights the need for tough new regulations to protect children’s health, according to the Irish Heart Foundation, which commissioned the report.

Existing curbs on television advertising aimed at children should be extended to all media, the report recommends.

And:

The report found that brands direct “immersive, engaging persuasion” at teenage Facebook users in Ireland, “based on novelty, competition, fun, humour, entertainment and peer approaches”.

One-quarter of the social media posts by brands analysed did not show food, packaging or a logo, indicating a shift to “more subtle promotional strategies that are less easily identified as advertising”.

The report said social media posts for junk foods were designed to “evade children’s ability to process consciously that posts are marketing that seek to sell”.

As importantly, people, once appraised of this, aren’t happy:

Parents, when shown examples of these posts, switched from initial indifference to a negative reaction, according to the report.

They were “very hostile” to the use of tagging, sharing and the promotion of unhealthy products using celebrities.

By the way, just on Easons café, the one on the floor with Tower Records, I have met more people by accident in there from the Irish left than almost anywhere else I can care to mention. Ex (and current) SP, former LP left, WP, SF etc, etc.  It’s the soup and scones – yeah?