Food Marketing, Eating Behaviors and Gender Among Children and Adolescents: A Scoping Review

Abstract Background Pervasive marketing of unhealthy foods is one of the main drivers behind the global epidemic of childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity. Sex and gender differences come into play in the design of and responses to these marketing strategies, contributing to the perpetuation of stereotyped behavior and generating disparities in food choices and health among boys and girls. The purpose of this paper is to review the current the literature regarding gender differences in food marketing design and perception among children and adolescents to facilitate evidence-based policy dialogues to address gender-based health disparities in NCD prevention.Methods Scoping review of articles published in scientific journals in English and Spanish from 2003 on that addressed the influence of food marketing on eating behaviors among children and adolescents including a gender perspective. The methodological quality of each article was assessed following criteria specific to each study design.Results A total of 40 articles (42 studies) were included in the review. 19 were experimental and 23 had descriptive, cross-sectional designs. 22 studies were found to have low methodological quality, while 11 and 9 were of medium and high quality, respectively. 24 studies found gender-based differences with regards to the effect of food marketing on food intake, food choice and preferences, responses to specific marketing strategies and techniques, perceptions and attitudes towards food marketing and the need for its regulation, and advertising content and exposure. Conclusions The evidence suggests that food marketing has a similar impact on the consumption of unhealthy foods on both boys and girls, but boys were found to be exposed to food advertising more intensively and their preferences to be more affected by this exposure, in line with a mostly male-dominant advertising content. Limitations of these studies include taking gender as an unproblematic construct equivalent to biological sex and the lack of studies focused on developing countries. As gender is a cross-sectional dimension that interacts with other factors driving health disparities, an integrated gender perspective is needed in order to develop effective, evidence-based policies to control food marketing and tackle the childhood overweight pandemic.