Beverage industry's advertising expenditures and airtimes in South Africa from 2013 to 2019 target children and families

Micheal Kofi Boachie; Susan Goldstein; Petronell Kruger; Shu Wen Ng; Karen J Hofman; Evelyn Thsehla

doi:10.1177/22799036231168207

Beverage industry's advertising expenditures and airtimes in South Africa from 2013 to 2019 target children and families

J Public Health Res. 2023 Apr 24;12(2):22799036231168207. doi: 10.1177/22799036231168207. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Authors

Micheal Kofi Boachie¹, Susan Goldstein¹, Petronell Kruger¹, Shu Wen Ng², Karen J Hofman¹, Evelyn Thsehla¹

Affiliations

¹ SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Abstract

With the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), countries across the globe are finding ways to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed food and drinks including sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). South Africa implemented a health promotion levy (HPL) in April 2018 as one strategy to reduce sugar intake. Such efforts are frequently countered or mitigated by industry action in various ways, including through marketing and advertising strategies. To better understand trends in the extent of advertising, this paper analyses advertising expenditures and exposure of children to SSB advertisements in South Africa. Using Nielsen's monthly data on advertising expenditure before and after the introduction of the HPL, for the period January 2013 to April 2019, the results show that manufacturers spent ZAR 3683 million to advertise their products. Advertising expenditure on carbonated drinks accounted for over 60% (ZAR 2220 million) of the total expenditure on SSBs. The results also show that companies spend less in advertising powdered SSBs (an average of ZAR 0.05 million per month). Based on expenditure patterns, television (TV) was the preferred medium of advertisements, with companies prioritizing what is often considered children's and family viewing time. Urgent mandatory regulations are needed to prevent child-directed marketing.

Keywords: Advertising expenditure; child-directed marketing; commercial determinants of health; health promotion levy; non-communicable diseases; sugar-sweetened beverages.