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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Assessment of Social Transmission of Food Preferences Behaviors
Published on: January 25, 2018
Parents' reactions to a Social Media Marketing Campaign Promoting Universal School Meals Among Elementary-Aged US
Carolyn Chelius1, Amanda B Zeitlin2, Christina A Hecht3
1Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
Objective:
To examine parents' reactions (e.g., likes, comments) to a social media campaign encouraging participation in universal school meals (USM) programs.
Design:
Content analysis of parents' reactions to static Facebook posts (images with captions) posted as part of a parent-directed campaign promoting USM participation.
Participants:
Parents (n = 404) of children in grades 1-5 in states that offered USM during the 2024-2025 school year.
Main Outcome Measure:
Acceptance or rejection of campaign messages.
Analysis:
We calculated descriptive statistics of parents' comments to characterize acceptance or rejection of campaign messages. Using thematic analysis, we inductively coded parents' comments to identify themes associated with acceptance or rejection of the campaign messages.
Results:
Comments indicating acceptance (34%) largely focused on gratitude for the money-saving, convenience, and social benefits of USM. Comments indicating rejection (29%) primarily discussed beliefs that school meals were unhealthy and of poor quality, with some questioning the posts' credibility or seeking references or statistics to support the posts' claims.
Conclusions And Implications:
Campaigns promoting USM may wish to focus on money-saving, convenience, and social benefits of USM, and include references and statistics to boost the credibility of claims.
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