Health-related food advertising on kid YouTuber vlogger channels

Abstract

This article seeks to identify the presence of food products on channels featuring kid YouTuber vloggers (or ‘kidfluencers’) aged under 14 years old in Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom, to determine if they are encouraging a healthy diet. Content analysis was performed on a sample of 450 videos (6750 min) posted within a three-year time span. The results show that, with regard to the foods present in the videos, those most commonly present (71%) are non-essential and unhealthy foods and the United States is the country with the highest percentage of non-essential and unhealthy foods, followed by the United Kingdom and Spain. The channels in Spain show a higher number of healthy foods compared to the rest (N = 11). The results suggest a relationship between consumer habits and what kid vloggers reflect in their channels.