Psychology of Food Marketing and Overeating

Dr. Frans Folkvord is an assistant professor at Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, at the Department Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, The Netherlands. He is also a senior policy researcher at Open Evidence, a spin-off company of the Applied Social Science and Behavioral Economics Research group, University of Cataluña (Barcelona, Spain). He is a temporary advisor to the World Health Organization, UNICEF, European Commission, the Dutch Heart Foundation, and the Dutch Nutrition Centre about the effects of food marketing on children’s eating behaviour.

'With children’s food marketing being so powerful, present, persuasive, and pernicious, it is essential that its effects be documented, mechanisms be understood, and means for prevention and mitigation be examined. This volume takes important steps in these directions by assembling state-of-the-art knowledge by leading experts in the field. It is a welcome advance.' - Prof. Dr. Kelly Brownell, Director of the World Food Policy Center; Professor of Public Policy, Duke University, US.'Seldom is social science as eye-opening as this volume. It is a riveting, evidenced based, collection on the avoidable public health epidemic of childhood obesity that, if unchecked, will result in significant personal and societal risks and costs. Through mainstream and online media, children are exposed to direct and subconscious inducements to consume snacks and drinks with extraordinary amounts of sugar, salt and fats. With evidence suggesting that industry self-regulation is ineffective other solutions are discussed including legislation, nudging, promoting advertising literacy and a novel inhibition training approach. The volume is a timely call for action.' - Prof Dr. George Gaskell, Professor of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. ‘Obesity has become an omnipresent health problem. This must-read book gives a critical and eclectic reflection on food marketing and its effect on children, adolescents, and adults. In The Psychology of Food Marketing and (Over)eating an unprecedented collection of research on food advertising and its effect on eating behavior is presented. This book clearly aims to promote healthy food marketing and gives students, researchers, health professionals, policy-makers, and dieticians a tool to change the world by promoting healthy eating behavior.’ – Prof. Dr. Marjolijn Antheunis, Tilburg University, School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Netherlands.‘Food marketing is currently omnipresent, taking many forms and targeting people on a great variety of media platforms. This state of the art collection of chapters by key experts in the international field from multiple perspectives gives an eclectic overview on the effects of this extensive food marketing for unhealthy foods and what can be done about it in order to improve the health of children, adolescents, and adults.’ – Prof. Dr. Moniek Buijzen, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute, Netherlands.

• Foreword Dr. T. Lobstein Introduction Dr. F. Folkvord Chapter 1. Food marketing to young children Dr. E. Boyland Chapter 2. Food marketing to adolescents and young adults Prof. Dr. J. Harris Chapter 3. Children's rights approach to marketing regulations Prof. Dr. A. Garde Chapter 4. Regulations and their effectiveness Dr. B. Kelly Chapter 5. Improving advertising literacy and effectiveness Dr. E. Rozendaal Chapter 6. The use of inhibition task to reduce the effects of food cue reactivity Dr. H. Veling & Dr. N. Lawrence Chapter 7. The promotion of healthy foods: a review of the literature and theoretical framework Dr. F. Folkvord