# Unhealthy food and beverage advertising on social media: Examining state policies that restrict adolescents' access to social media

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $720,350

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages to adolescents has been consistently recognized as a prominent
negative determinant of child health, shaping risk for diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Social media ads are
particularly concerning given adolescents aged 13-18 years spend nearly 3 hours per day on social media
platforms and see upwards of 17 food ads per hour. Black and Hispanic adolescents and lower income
adolescents report spending more time on social media and are targeted more for ads overall, making
understanding these dynamics important for addressing diet-related disparities. Up to this point, regulating
advertising has been difficult in the United States, owing to court rulings that recognize companies’ ability to
advertise as part of their First Amendment right to free speech in the US Constitution. However, a new path
has emerged whereby states, led initially by Utah and followed by Louisiana, Texas, and others, have passed
policies restricting anyone younger than 18 years from accessing social media without explicit parental
approval. Some of these policies also restrict companies’ ability to market to adolescents on social media sites.
We will study the influence of these policies on adolescents’ exposure to food and beverage advertising in
Louisiana, (policy starts August 1st, 2024), and Texas (policy starts September 1st, 2024). We will enroll
adolescents aged 13-17 years in Texas and Louisiana (two diverse states among the first to pass these laws),
matched with comparison adolescents from states that do not have similar policies in place at the time of our
study. We will utilize a proven yet innovative screen capture procedure to allow for as comprehensive as
possible determination of youth’s full social media and online advertising exposure.
 Aim 1: Determine whether the social media policies in Texas and Louisiana reduce adolescents’
exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising online.
H1: The policies will reduce online exposure to unhealthy food and beverage advertising for
adolescents living in Texas and Louisiana versus a matched comparison sample.
Aim 2: With a focus on disparities, determine whether lower income adolescents have a differential
response to the policy than higher income adolescents.
H2: The reduction in number of ads seen will be greater for lower income adolescents than for higher
income adolescents.
Aim 3: With a focus on disparities, determine whether Black and Hispanic adolescents have differential
responses to the policy than White adolescents.
H3: The reduction in number of ads seen will be greater for Black and Hispanic adolescents than for
White adolescents.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11009396
- **Project number:** 1R01HD116783-01
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Marie Bragg
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $720,350
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-26 → 2029-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11009396

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11009396, Unhealthy food and beverage advertising on social media: Examining state policies that restrict adolescents' access to social media (1R01HD116783-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-31 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11009396. Licensed CC0.

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