The pioneering research designed to put children’s health before profits | Deakin University: Bold ideas with impact

Most of us are guilty of spending more time than we should on our digital devices, and children are no exception. Until now, it has been all but impossible to monitor the advertising tactics being used to influence kids’ attitudes and behaviours that lead to poor health and chronic disease in adulthood.

But in groundbreaking new work, Deakin University researchers have developed tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that measure children’s exposure to persuasive ads for junk food, alcohol, tobacco, vapes and gambling. The innovations are designed to give policymakers the tangible evidence they need to regulate practices that prioritise profits over children’s long-term health.

Children’s health in jeopardy

Cancer Council Australia says one in three cancer cases in Australia are preventable, amounting to about 44,000 cases a year. Poor diet, excess body weight, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption are leading factors in these preventable cases, and between them these factors cause almost as many cancer cases as smoking.

Kathryn Backholer, a professor of global public health policy at Deakin University’s Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, says advertising plays a crucial role in influencing children’s preferences, behaviours and brand loyalty, with early and repeated exposure to junk food, alcohol and tobacco marketing establishing patterns that persist into adulthood.

“Children have never been as engaged with digital and social media platforms as they are now, and with this comes an exposure to high volumes of junk food and alcohol marketing that’s increasingly sophisticated in targeting children and those susceptible to the messaging,” Backholer says.

How many harmful adverts are young Australians exposed to online each day on average?

Source: Deakin University Digital Youth Report 2024

Such intense exposure – targeted and personalised to the individual child – is embedded within their most commonly used digital platforms, and away from the eyes of their parents. Even watching something as innocent as skateboarding videos on social media or playing an online game can expose kids to harmful advertising.

“We know the kinds of ads that are delivered are not just ads that they scroll past, but they’re ads that encourage the user, in this case, children and young people, to take action,” Backholer says.

An ad might say “click here” to install a gambling app, “learn more” about an alcoholic drink, or “shop now” to buy junk food. “It’s not just that they’re exposed to this marketing, but that this marketing is really trying to engage them to have this seamless process from marketing all the way through to purchase and consumption.”

Backholer says when children see this kind of marketing it can surreptitiously increase their brand loyalty, shape their preferences and awareness, and influence their behaviour and consumption – not just now but over the course of their life.

“If we don’t do anything, we’re just going to see a huge burden on our healthcare and mental healthcare systems, with diabetes, obesity and a continual increase in chronic disease,” she says. “We’re advocating for policies that put children’s health before industry profits.”

AI-powered solutions driving change

Using the power of AI, Deakin researchers have developed SCANNER, a tool capable of tracking and categorising harmful digital marketing that children see, and wearable eye-tracking technology that improves our understanding of how children engage with advertising.

The project is a collaboration between Deakin’s Institute for Health Transformation and the Deakin Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation, which is led by Prof Asim Bhatti. It responds to longstanding calls from the World Health Organization for the use of such tools, which have not yet been successfully developed due to the complexities involved in collecting real-world data on children’s advertising exposure.

Deakin’s research aims to overcome these barriers with a multi-stage development plan that ensures the tools are adaptable, effective and ethically sound. The tools have garnered positive interest from policymakers, indicating a widespread recognition of the need for more robust regulatory frameworks to address harmful marketing.

Backholer has presented a report on the SCANNER project in parliament, prompting discussions on the potential for stronger government intervention. In Australia, the advertising of most harmful products, aside from tobacco and vapes, operates under self-regulatory codes created and monitored by the industries themselves. These industry-led codes do little to protect children from harmful marketing, Backholer says.

Innovations such as SCANNER aim to hold companies accountable by making children’s marketing exposure visible, actionable and accessible to policymakers, she says. With this tool, governments will be better positioned to advocate for and enforce advertising restrictions, bridging the gap between public health needs and regulatory capacity.

“If we can monitor this kind of marketing, and we can hold industry to account for these marketing practices, we can ensure that children aren’t exposed to these kinds of health-harming risks.”

Packaging for healthier choices

The Deakin team is also studying food packaging, recognising its role in shaping consumer choices, especially among children. A project led by Dr Georgie Russell, a behavioural nutritionist and senior lecturer at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, uses AI and eye tracking to analyse children’s engagement with various packaging designs on products such as breakfast cereals. The research has captured data on 750 children aged five to 12 to find out how packaging elements such as branding, health claims and nutrient labels influence young consumers’ decisions.