Monitoraggio della pubblicità degli alimenti nella televisione italiana

Objective: This is a 1-year screening carried out to analyze qualitative and quantitative aspects of food related TV adverts in Italian and US broadcasts. Methods: In Italy, commercials were monitored on national TV channels (n=9). Data were collected during 4 periods of the day: morning (07:00-09:30), lunchtime (13:00-15:30), dinnertime (19:00-20:30) and evening (20:30-21:30). In the US, five national broadcasts were monitored during prime time and day time. Results: In Italy, 1939 out of 6087 (31%) commercials regarded food products. Broadcasting rate for food commercials was 5.5±4.3, 9.6±5.1 and 8.1±5.3 spots/hour (P<0.001), respectively for public and the two groups of commercial broadcasting stations. The most popular advertised category of food was that of sweet snacks, followed by enriched/light foods and alcoholic beverages. In the US, 636 out 3182 (20%) were food commercials. The most popular food-related advertisements were those of fast food chains. Both in Italy and in the US, on average, 7 food commercials/h were advertised. Conclusions: In Italy, food adverts constituted one third of the total broadcasted commercials and, among them, sweet snacks adverts were mostly represented. Italy and US television broadcasts showed some differences for qualitative aspects of food advertisements.