Objective: This study aimed to assess the most consumed school snacks using the free listing and understand how marketing strategies on food labels influenced children's perceptions of snacks via focus groups.
Design: The study design involved free lists and semi-structured focus group interviews.
Setting: São Paulo, Brazil.
Participants: A total of 69 children were involved in this study.
Phenomenon of interest: Children's perceptions of food labels.
Analysis: Food groups mentioned on the free lists were analyzed for their frequency and priority of occurrence. The focus groups were analyzed through content analysis.
Results: Juices and chips were the most salient snacks, with availability and flavor as reasons for their consumption. Children found images on labels appealing, which created a desire for the food, although could be deceptive. Snacks perceived as healthy were encouraged by parents, and children could more easily convince them to buy snacks with health claims. Colors and brands were important to catch children's attention and make the snack recognizable. Television commercials and mascots reinforced marketing strategies on labels.
Conclusions and implications: Our results point to the need for public health strategies to deal with the obesity epidemic through creating and implementing specific legislation to regulate food labels to discourage the consumption of unhealthy snacks and prohibit food marketing targeted at children.
Keywords: children; focus groups; food label; food marketing; snacks; ultra-processed foods.
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