Gaps in policies on children-targeted marketing turn TikTok into a virtual candy store
Zero restrictions on children-targeted marketing of unhealthy food items give brands free rein to advertise snacks high in sugar content. Second of a two-part special. Read part one here.
MANILA, Philippines — Brands selling sugary treats and chocolate biscuits aimed at children have increasingly been popularized on TikTok by Filipino “mommy” content creators marketing their products as affiliates.
What started as a side hustle has turned into a full-time job for many affiliate marketers in the popular short-form video platform, which actively encourages users to become affiliates with the tagline: “Connecting creators and sellers through creativity and commission.”
On one hand, for affiliate marketers like Janina Diwa, it’s a quick way to make cash without having to cough up a large capital needed for online selling.
On another, the 33-year-old content creator stressed that being an affiliate allows her to turn her genuine love for her favorite products into commissions.
“You don’t know who or how many viewers will watch your videos, so you have to give your best in each one of them. And I get to do that because I like the products I market,” Diwa said in a mix of English and Filipino.
TikTok is not allowed to market to minors in the United States. But in the Philippines, marketing to children on the platform is allowed as current guidelines posted on its affiliate program only restrict the participation of minors in advertisements without an adult.
This means that in the Philippines, there are virtually no restrictions on the extent to which unhealthy food products can be marketed to children on the app, many of whom watch videos through relatives’ phones even if they are not old enough to create an account.
This gives agencies like the Department of Health’s National Nutritional Council (NNC) a tall task as it works towards a policy restricting the type of products that can be marketed to children.
Philstar.com has reached out to TikTok Philippines for comment and will update this story with their response.
Obesity a looming problem
Government actions that seek to put a leash on the marketing of unhealthy foods is a regional issue that has had the Philippines and neighboring countries scrutinize how popular marketing tactics drive obesity statistics, said Kioh Monato, NNC training specialist.
While there are currently more undernourished than obese children in the Philippines, studies have shown that a child’s experience of having little to eat in their early years can lead to a domino effect of obesity as they grow older, Monato said.
No bill has been filed in Congress that seeks to regulate the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages, much less its marketing to children. While there are local ordinances that regulate the placement of advertisements in school zones, no policy or proposed measure seeks to regulate the content on social media.
Given that children develop food brand associations during their early years – when their knowledge of food and nutrition is just starting to take shape — the proliferation of advertisements on social media can lead children to unhealthy food consumption, according to a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) study from 2021.
The NNC — the country’s policymaking body on nutrition — still has to work on the development of a nutrient profile model (NPM) before it can craft a policy regulating food marketing, Monato said.
Once finalized, the NPM will guide the NNC and other agencies in classifying which food items can be permitted to be marketed to children.
As in any government policy affecting the private sector, the challenge lies in reaching a consensus that satisfies all parties.
“Industry partners we consulted were airing some concerns, like other standards to consider, such as how some food items cannot be classified as such if they reduce a certain nutrient level,” Monato said.
Monato said that the NNC is aware of the headaches of attempting to regulate social media platforms, which have also been the subject of complaints from fact-checkers, media literacy and counter-disinformation advocates.
“We know that we would have to be very specific with any policy. We need to make sure we are protecting children from harmful marketing, so we will have to consider all possible marketing strategies,” Monato said.
“We’re already looking at all social media platforms – it’s really all available for children,” he added.
Media literacy
Compared to digital natives or younger social media users, people from older generations tend to more easily fall for deceiving marketing tactics, said Marlon Nombrado co-founder of Out of the Box Media Literacy Initiative.
But across all ages, people consuming online content need to develop "social and emotional learning approaches,” Nombrado said.
“A part of emotional learning is answering the key question of: what emotions do these media messages make me feel?” Nombrado added, stressing that those exposed to advertisements and marketing tactics will benefit from having “emotional skepticism.”
“Consumers need to learn to interrogate… Why do they allow themselves to be persuaded? Such things are also part of media literacy,” Nombrado said.
Similarly, Monato said that the NNC is implementing a “social behavior change communication” to bring down the number of obese and overweight Filipinos.
“We need to acknowledge, too, that to stem the impact of marketing unhealthy food, we also need to have a behavior change among children and parents,” he added.
Monato said that parents should also learn to discern not just harmful marketing practices, but also how to reject their children when they “pester” them to buy products.
“We have this thing called nag factor or pester power when children beg their parents for food. And then it can drive families to purchase unhealthy items,” he said.
“That’s also an avenue or a factor to consider when educating older people, especially the parents,” Monato said.
Can ads ever be regulated?
The country has previously struggled to regulate children-targeted marketing in traditional advertising, such as television and print ads, even with the establishment of the Advertisement Council of the Philippines.
Even among legacy media, the principle being practiced is self-regulation, Nombrado pointed out.
“Because if you look at the context of disinformation, the public relations agencies fueling the disinformation crisis cannot be regulated,” Nombrado said.
“People in the ads community follow a different ethos. For this reason, I think there’s an opportunity for the ads council to look into these things,” he added.
The Department of Trade and Industry also has a stake in regulating how food items are being marketed to children, but the agency is currently more focused on scam-related incidents than the regulation of marketing practices.
With no agency giving a concerted effort on “advertisement manipulation or manipulation of consumers,” Nombrado said that the academe plays a huge role in highlighting the impact of harmful marketing or advertising practices on children.
“Besides political interest, what government agencies are looking for is evidence. We need data,” Nombrado said.
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Disclosure: Reporting for this story was made possible with support from ImagineLaw, Inc. This article was produced following editorial guidelines and ImagineLaw did not have input on how the story would be written.
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