Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40836712›Full record

ArticleGlobal health action2025

Scrutinizing the impact of two self-regulation policies on unhealthy food marketing in children's popular television in Malaysia: a multiple-year repeated evaluation using a harmonized protocol.

Gild Rick Ong, Mohd Jamil Sameeha, Sreelakshmi Sankara Narayanan, Karuthan Chinna, Bridget Kelly, Sally Mackay, Boyd Swinburn, Tilakavati Karupaiah

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Article in Global health action, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Gild Rick OngSchool of Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.ORCID 0009-0006-5047-7888
Mohd Jamil SameehaNutritional Sciences Programme, Centre for Community Health Studies (ReaCH), Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.ORCID 0000-0001-6034-3783
Sreelakshmi Sankara NarayananSchool of Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.ORCID 0000-0002-7951-9176
Karuthan ChinnaFaculty of Business and Management, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.ORCID 0000-0002-2035-344X
Bridget KellyFaculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, Early Start, School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-3111-6279
Sally MackaySchool of Population Health, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0002-4135-6738
Boyd SwinburnSchool of Population Health, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0002-2131-045X
Tilakavati KarupaiahSchool of Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.ORCID 0000-0001-5808-8074

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRegulating unhealthy food marketing is critical as it is a recognized driver of childhood obesity. Two voluntary self-regulatory policies governing food advertising in the media were introduced in Malaysia in 2008 and 2013.

objectivesTo assess food advertising on Malaysian children's popular television channels across a decade using the standardized INFORMAS protocol.

methodsThe main dataset was collected cross-sectionally from 2020 to 2022 evaluating three television channels. Additionally, a retrospective comparison between the 2022 and 2012 datasets was limited to two channels commonly available for both years. Advertised foods were classified as permitted (healthy) or not-permitted (unhealthy) using a nutrient profile model of the World Health Organization. We compared advertising rates and use of persuasive marketing techniques during children's peak viewing time (PVT) versus non-PVT.

resultsUnhealthy food advertising rates remained significantly higher than healthy food for all years of measurement (all

conclusionsUnhealthy food advertising dominates Malaysian children's popular television channels, especially during PVT despite the presence of voluntary self-regulatory policies. These findings underscore the need for government-led mandatory regulations to control unhealthy food marketing targeting children.

Indexed as

AdvertisingFoodMarketingSelf-ControlTelevisionChildCross-Sectional StudiesHumansMalaysiaPediatric ObesityPersuasive CommunicationRetrospective StudiesAsiafast foodnutrient profile modelpeak viewing timepersuasive marketing

Identifiers

PMID40836712
PMCPMC12372512

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.