SynthesisPediatrics2022
Advertising and Young People's Critical Reasoning Abilities: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Pediatrics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Assessing the evidence for health benefits of low-level weight loss: a systematic review.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Pooled it
- Youth washing as a corporate social responsibility tactic of health-harming industries.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- Children still exposed to high rates of unhealthy food advertising in Austria: does self-regulation work?Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Finnish children's exposure to paid-for digital food advertising: the pilot study.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Sugar-sweetened beverages: consumption, purchasing behaviour, and opinions about policy measures in a nationally representative panel of Dutch secondary school adolescents.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Effects of social media sponsorship disclosure on adolescents' advertising literacy and purchase intention.PloS one · 2026Article
- Article
- Associations between exposure to digital food marketing and food consumption in adolescence: a cross-sectional study in an emerging country.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Food and drink advertising along school children's transport routes in Victoria, Australia and policy implications.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- 'Soft drinks are normal': understanding the lived experiences of Dutch teenagers with respect to sugar-sweetened beverages: a qualitative context-mapping study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Sex-stratified analysis of marketing exposure and current e-cigarette use among Saudi adolescents.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Influencing children: food cues in YouTube content from child and youth influencers.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Effects of a nicotine warning label and vaping cessation resources on young adults' perceptions of pro-vaping instagram influencer posts.Addictive behaviors · 2024Article
- Navigating the online food environment: policy pathways for promoting food access, transparency, and healthy food choices online.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Sex differences in children's exposure to food and beverage advertisements on broadcast television in four cities in Canada.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesYoung people are exposed to an abundance of advertising for unhealthy products (eg, unhealthy foods, tobacco, alcohol). Because of their developing cognition, children may not be able to understand the intent of advertising. However, advertising restrictions often assume that adolescents have critical reasoning capacity and can resist the effects of advertising. This review seeks to assess whether the evidence supports this assumption.
methodsTen databases were searched in December 2020. Inclusion criteria were participants aged 6 to 17 years, any advertising exposure, objectively measured understanding or attitudinal outcome, a comparison, control, and between-group comparison. This study included all languages and excluded studies published pre-2010. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed study quality.
resultsThirty-eight articles were included. Meta-analysis of 9 studies with attitudinal outcomes indicated that unhealthy product advertising generated more positive brand or product attitudes compared with neutral or no advertising control in all ages. There were significant effects for digital and nondigital advertising formats. We found greater understanding did not protect against the impact of advertising on brand or product attitudes. Limitations include the inability to meta-analyze the impact of advertising on understanding or the influence of age.
conclusionsEvidence shows that the attitudes of young people were influenced by advertising. Critical reasoning abilities did not appear to be fully developed during adolescence and not found to be protective against the impact of advertising. Policymakers should ensure regulations to restrict marketing of unhealthy commodities protects adolescents as well as younger children.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.