Children and young people are being constantly exposed to videos and images promoting unhealthy food, particularly when shared by influencers. That’s the warning from Cancer Research UK, who surveyed 4,000 children and young people aged 11 to 21 across the UK.
In 2024, Cancer Research UK commissioned a new survey to explore young people’s self-reported exposure to, engagement with and perceived influencing by the marketing of cigarettes, vapes, HFSS products and alcohol, specifically on social media.
Following the survey, further research using self-ethnography and focus groups provided context to the results and a deeper dive into the key areas of interest: promotional content on social media for unhealthy products and young people’s thoughts on policy options for harmful product marketing on social media.
In the survey, 1 in 5 young social media users reported seeing posts relating to cigarettes by businesses in the past month, and 1 in 4 saw posts by influencers. Participants in the qualitative study didn’t report seeing any content relating to cigarettes, nor did they share any examples from their feeds. They expressed being either satisfied or indifferent about the perceived lack of cigarette-related content and attributed it to social media algorithms and marketing restrictions.
In the survey, almost 1 in 3 young social media users reported seeing posts relating to vapes by businesses in the past month, and almost 4 in 10 saw posts by influencers, with higher exposure among people who had vaped before. Mandatory warnings on posts relating to vapes (i.e. ‘This product contains
nicotine’) were often reported as not being seen by young people. The qualitative study revealed examples of social media content relating to
vapes, including entertaining meme-style videos. A minority of participants felt that this content might subtly increase the appeal of vaping, but the majority felt negatively towards vapes and believed them to be more harmful than they are.
In the survey, more than 1 in 2 young social media users reported seeing posts relating to HFSS products by both businesses and influencers in the past month. The qualitative study revealed that content relating to HFSS products was highly prevalent in young people’s social media feeds, with examples including restaurant content, recipe videos and entertaining videos featuring HFSS products. Engagement with HFSS product posts was high, with young people enjoying this content, especially when it showcased new products for them to try.
In the survey, more than 1 in 3 young social media users reported seeing posts relating to alcohol by businesses in the past month, and almost 2 in 5 saw posts by influencers. Exposure was higher among people who had drunk alcohol before. The qualitative study indicated that content containing alcohol was often humorous or casually mentioned, with some people over the age of 18 who already drunk alcohol reporting that it did have an influence on them wanting to drink.