Grant: Project Grant

Unhealthy food marketing is a key contributor to poor diet quality in young people. With the rising popularity of food delivery service and restaurant apps ("food apps") among adolescents and young adults ("young people"), there is a need for research to characterize the usage and impacts of these apps among this subpopulation, and to document the extent and use of personal data being collected by food apps. This project aims to examine food app use among young people, the marketing to which young people are exposed on food apps and the impacts of such marketing on their food purchases and consumption, as well as the personal data being collected on young people who use food apps. Data from the International Food Policy adult and youth surveys will be used to examine outcomes such as how often young people use food delivery service or restaurant apps, and differences between sociodemographic groups. Additionally, we will use screen recording technology to objectively measure exposure to marketing in food apps for 100 young people aged 10-24 years. Participants will also be asked to share their recent food app order history, and interview sessions will be conducted to examine young people's perceptions of marketing in food apps and its impacts on their food purchases and consumption. Lastly, we will investigate the amounts and types of personal data being collected by food apps on the young people participating in our study. This novel research will provide critical evidence of the nature and extent of food marketing to which young people are exposed via food apps, their perceptions of such marketing and its impacts on their food orders/purchases and consumption, as well as the personal data being collected on them by food apps. Results of this work may prompt and inform policy concerning food marketing and data privacy on food apps.