Ángeles Cruz Martínez
La Jornada newspaper
Monday, April 21, 2025, p. 6
Digital media advertising reaches 70 percent of children and adolescents, which is equivalent to exposure to almost three commercials for every hour in front of a device. The most serious, according to studies from the National Institute of Public Health, is that 90 percent of the ads promote unhealthy products.
It has also been shown that food and drink advertising has a great influence on their eating habits. On television, up to a third of the advertising messages are of sweet snacks and have a diffusion up to four times greater than the rest of the ads.
Hence the importance of having a strict regulation in advertising aimed at childhood and adolescence, specialists warned of the opinion of the guideline project presented by the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris).
Obesity triggers
In particular, they referred to the organism’s approach to increase the transmission schedules of this type of advertisements, which would lead to a greater exposure of the child population to the messages that, it has also been proven, have a direct effect on overweight and obesity.
Civil organizations and researchers commented against the project that went up to the platform of the National Regulatory Improvement Commission (CONAMER) and in which it was for 12 days. Cofepris withdrew the document after CONAMER requested additional information and clarifications on the estimated cost that would have the application of new regulatory measures, among other aspects.
Although Cofepris requested to withdraw the project since March 31, comments have continued to come to the platform, with arguments against the proposal to expand the permitted schedules for the transmission of food and drink advertising.
Alejandro Calvillo, director of The Consumer Power, recalled that since 2014 the guidelines that prohibit such ads at the schedules from Monday to Friday from 2:30 p.m. from 2:30 p.m., as well as Saturday and Sunday from 7 to 7:30 p.m.
The project already removed from Cofepris proposed that the goods that carried one or more warning stamps due to its high content of sugars, salt and fats, could not be advertised from Monday to Friday between 7 and 10 pm. Calvillo pointed out that this meant reducing to only three hours the protection of children and adolescents.
In comments received at CONAMER, the inclusion of rules for digital media stood out as a success, as well as for the participation of artists and Influencers.
The specialist Shandurai Khama mentioned the results of an investigation in which 892 ads were analyzed on digital platforms of 20 industrialized products of the commercial brands of greater consumption in the country. It was found that on Facebook, half of the messages are emotional and on YouTube it was identified that the possibilities of an emotional persuasive message reaching children and adolescents is almost three times higher compared to messages that have no directed advertising.
The expert proposed that in the new guidelines all the digital advertising of products with one or more warning stamps, since the algorithm (not working per schedule) cannot guarantee that children do not have access to this exposure. In addition, digital advertising is even more persuasive and personalized
which increases the effectiveness of the message, in this case, that the population consumes these products.
For his part, Calvillo said that although in Cofepris there is an Advertising Advertising Council, which is part of, it was not summoned for the elaboration of the guidelines and has not been dissolved.
