An analysis of food and beverage advertising on bus shelters in a deprived area of Northern England

Objective: To quantify the extent of food and beverage advertising on bus shelters in a deprived area of the UK that has no restrictions on this activity, to identify the healthfulness of advertised products and the creative strategies used and extent of appeal to young people, and to identify differences by level of deprivation.Design: Images of all bus shelter advertisements across the two unitary authorities were collected via in person photography (in 2019) and verified using Google Street View (photos recorded in 2018). All advertisements were coded according to advert type. Food and beverage advertisements were coded as brand or product ads and into one of seventeen food categories. These items were classified as healthy/less healthy using the UK Nutrient Profile Model. The deprivation level of the ad location was identified using the UK Index of Multiple Deprivation.Setting: This study took place in South Teesside, specifically the unitary authorities of Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland.Participants: There are no participants in this study.Results: 832 advertisements were identified in total, almost half (48.9%) of which were for foods or beverages. Of the food and beverage adverts, 35.1% were classed as less healthy. Close to a quarter (22.2%) of food advertisements used creative strategies, almost all of these were competitions. Food advertisements were found to be of appeal to children under 12 years (47.3%) and adolescents, 13-17 years (70.5%). Most bus shelters, and therefore most food advertising, was in the most deprived area but not meaningful differences in advertising was found by level of deprivation.Conclusions: Food advertising is extensive on bus shelters in the UK, and a substantial proportion of this advertising is classified as less healthy and would not be permitted to be advertised around television programming for children. Bus shelter advertising should be considered part of the UK policy deliberations around restricting less healthy food marketing exposure.