An objective methodology capturing online commodity marketing and other harms

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Public Health Research Methodology
• Online Consumer Behavior

Background:

• Limited understanding of real-time online content exposure hinders public health efforts.
• Difficulty in recording online viewing makes assessing harmful commodity marketing challenging.
• Children's exposure to online public health harms requires robust assessment methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and assess a methodology for measuring online exposure to unhealthy commodity marketing.
• To evaluate the feasibility of real-time data collection for public health harms online.
• To specifically address the assessment of children's exposure to online harms.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Zoom software for 16 young adults (aged 21-29) to record 2 days of device usage.
• Coded and analyzed recorded data for marketing of alcohol, gambling, junk food, and smoking products.
• Conducted focus groups for thematic analysis of participant experiences with data collection and coding.

Main Results:

• The developed methodology proved feasible for gathering objective, real-time online data.
• The method effectively captured exposure to marketing of unhealthy commodities and other public health harms.
• Participant feedback indicated the method's practicality, with suggested modifications.

Conclusions:

• The developed methodology is a viable tool for assessing online exposure to public health harms.
• Further research with larger samples is recommended to establish global evidence for online public health interventions.
• This approach can inform strategies to mitigate the impact of harmful online marketing.