New HEAL Study: Does outdoor advertising correlate with retail food purchases made by adolescents? A cross-sectional study in Canada
- Post by: Olivia Teresa Caruso
- 4:09PM Mar 21, 2025
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A team of researchers led by AJ Wray with Gina Martin, Jamie Seabrook, Sean Doherty, and Jason Gilliland recently published an article entitled: “Does outdoor advertising correlate with retail food purchases made by adolescents? A cross-sectional study in Canada.”
Food and beverage marketing, especially targeted towards youth, receives major scrutiny and policy attention from public health regulators. Health Canada in 2019 proposed legislation that would have banned outdoor food and beverage advertising around any youth-serving location (i.e., schools, recreation centres, libraries, etc.). Yet, there remains a concerning lack of evidence about the effects of outdoor advertising, as one of many food marketing channels, on youth purchasing behaviours. In a new study published in Health Promotion International, HEAL members assessed the correlations between the availability of outdoor advertising in the daily environments of youth and their self-reported purchasing behaviour. The research team found that outdoor advertising slightly affects adolescent food purchasing behaviour, however, food consumption attitudes and sociodemographics play a more substantial role in predicting differences in purchasing behaviours. In the view of the research team, scarce public health resources in Canada should focus on delivering food skills-based educational programming to youth, as well as addressing more impactful marketing channels like social media.
Citation: AJ Wray, Gina Martin, Jamie Seabrook, Sean Doherty, and Jason Gilliland. “Does outdoor advertising correlate with retail food purchases made by adolescents? A cross-sectional study in Canada.” Health Promotion International 40, 2 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaf016