United Nations Children’s Fund wants tighter, mandatory restrictions for food advertisements aimed at children, arguing recent updates to voluntary industry marketing guardrails do not go far enough.
Several major brands, including Coca-Cola and General Mills, recently updated their policies on child‑directed marketing online, expanding restrictions on influencer content and redefining what counts as advertising to kids. At the same time, regulators and watchdog groups have stepped up scrutiny of food health claims, challenging “better‑for‑you” messaging that does not line up with a product’s actual nutrition profile.
These shifts reflect growing pressure on the food industry. But in a policy toolkit developed with the World Health Organization in 2023, UNICEF argues that voluntary changes – however well‑intentioned – are still not enough to meaningfully protect children from harm. Many of the policy gaps UNICEF flagged in 2023, particularly around online environments, remain unresolved today.
Unhealthy food marketing today looks very different from the TV commercials pre-Internet. UNICEF’s toolkit describes a landscape where advertising is woven into social media posts, videos, games and apps, often blurring the lines between entertainment and commercial.
The toolkit notes that most food marketing aimed at children promotes products high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats – foods that health experts recommend limiting.
Why a 2023 toolkit still matters now
Although UNICEF released its toolkit in 2023, its warnings have only grown more relevant. Since then, policymakers have begun to confront some of the gaps the toolkit identified – especially around digital advertising.
In the US, lawmakers have urged the Federal Trade Commission to take stronger action against unhealthy food marketing targeting children online, citing influencer ads, social media platforms and gaming environments that fall outside traditional oversight. In 2024, a group of senators and representatives pressed the FTC to update its approach, noting that the agency’s most comprehensive data on food marketing to children was more than a decade old.
Several states also passed laws restricting targeted advertising to minors under 18, indirectly limiting how companies can reach children online using personal data.
Outside the US, progress has been more direct. Norway has implemented a broad ban on marketing unhealthy foods and drinks to children across media and platforms, closely aligning with recommendations from UNICEF and WHO.
Still, UNICEF argues that these efforts remain uneven and fragmented, particularly in fast‑moving digital spaces where marketing practices evolve faster than regulation.
What governments have – and have not – done
From UNICEF’s perspective, the problem is not a lack of awareness but a lack of comprehensive action.
Governments have taken some steps – including FTC updating outdated food-marketing research, addressing misleading health and nutrition claims and limiting targeted digital advertising to minors through privacy laws.
But key protections are still missing, according to UNICEF. Currently, there is no comprehensive US law restricting unhealthy food marketing to children, let alone consistent oversight on digital platforms, influencers or immersive formats.
As a result, UNICEF argues, children remain surrounded by advertising systems designed to influence them long before they can push back.
