Exploring (un)healthy outdoor food advertisements on publicly-owned assets

Exploring (un)healthy outdoor food advertisements on publicly-owned assets Tamika M. Wopereis (1), Sanne Djojosoeparto (1), Frédérique Rongen (1), Maartje P. Poelman (1) (1) Wageningen University, the Netherlands Background and aims: Publicly-owned assets (i.e. bus shelters and municipal signboards) often have advertisement spaces that are rented out by municipalities to companies, generating income for municipalities. These assets are frequently used for food advertisements, which may influence citizen’s food consumption. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the type and healthiness of foods advertised via publicly-owned assets in the municipality of Wageningen, in the Netherlands. Description and recommendations: A longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate outdoor advertisements in Wageningen. During a five month period (June-October 2022), advertisements on publicly-owned assets were collected via photographs. In total, 1889 advertisements were observed; 469 (24.8%) advertisements were issued by food retailers and 415 (22.0%) by food producers. The remaining 1005 (53.2%) advertisements were issued by non-food companies. In total, 456 (24.1%) advertisements showed only unhealthy food products and 132 (7.0%) showed only healthy food products. This study highlights the omnipresence of predominantly unhealthy food advertisements on outdoor publicly-owned assets which may stimulate unhealthy food choices. Therefore, it is recommended to implement governmental policies that limit the placement of unhealthy food advertisements on publicly-owned assets. Significance: Unhealthy food advertisements on publicly-owned assets are a source of income for municipalities, which is in contradiction with the governments’ responsibility for the public health of its citizens. These findings show the need of developing policies that will limit unhealthy food advertisements on outdoor publicly-owned assets. This will contribute to creating environments encouraging healthy diets and benefit the public health of citizens.