At a time when childhood obesity is internationally recognized as a scourge and is a problem with augmented proportions in our country, the effort to regulate the advertising of unhealthy products seems insufficient, while in the field of influencer marketing through social media things are even worse!
According to the very interesting report by Giannis Elafros for “Kathimerini tis Kyriakis”, more than 2 billion € are spent annually on advertising food and beverage for children and teens worldwide.
In fact, despite the application of the “European Pledge” and the stated intention of companies in the industry to change the way they advertise to children, the problem not only remains, but is actually growing.
In other words, while consumer associations occasionally succeed in getting advertisements withdrawn from traditional media or television, on social media the promotion of unhealthy products seems to be taking on uncontrollable proportions. From seemingly innocent stories on Instagram, to nutritional “instructions” on Tik Tok and from placing products on videos to taking advantage of influencers’ popularity, children are being ruthlessly bombarded.
But because the trend to reduce childhood obesity is growing particularly strong, what we can assume with relative certainty is that influencer marketing will soon be placed under the constraints of a more strict regulatory framework.
