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Protecting children from the marketing of products known to increase the risk of heart disease
The digital marketing of unhealthy foods, alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarettes has a rising and detrimental impact on cardiovascular health. Exposure to digital marketing for these products significantly amplifies demand, shapes social norms, drives consumption, and increases life-time risk of cardiovascular disease. The Australian Government recently enacted the Public Health Act, prohibiting all digital marketing of e-cigarettes and tobacco products in Australia. Industry codes currently regulate how foods and alcohol can be marketed online.
Despite this, our research shows that young people remain exposed to online marketing for these products. This is likely due to a lack of accountability mechanisms for companies to uphold these rules and, in the case of unhealthy foods and alcohol, the weak design of industry codes. Regular monitoring of the digital marketing of these harmful products can hold these industries accountable to existing rules and, importantly, can highlight regulatory design weaknesses that can be improved to better protect children from these cardiovascular risks when they are online.
We have built an AI-enabled system (named SCANNER), capable of automatically detecting marketing of unhealthy food, alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarettes in video and image data. The next step in creating an accountability system is to develop an automated data collection method that can feed SCANNER, systematically and continuously, to identify breaches to laws and industry codes of practice.
In this Vanguard grant, we propose to develop a proof-of-concept method to automated data collection by creating online avatar profiles that mimic the browsing behaviour of young people. We will demonstrate the utility of these avatars by collecting data for one month, which will be analysed for relevant marketing content. Findings will inform a larger grant to scale-up and integrate the different technological components into a seamless accountability tool that can be used by governments, NGOs and researchers. Ultimately, this project will provide the necessary data to protect youth from the digital marketing of products that increase life-time risk of cardiovascular disease.
Last updated16 July 2025