This pilot study which analyses screen recordings from young people’s online activity found that companies are targeting them with ads for harmful products including alcohol, gambling and junk food. The ads drive engagement with harmful and addictive products.

Key findings

• Children as young as 8 years old are being bombarded with ads for unhealthy foods – including when they search for scooter tricks on social media and play online games. On average, children aged 8-13 years old were targeted with approximately 13 junk foods ads on a typical day they spend online.
• Teenagers aged 14-17 years old were targeted with an average of at least one instance of gambling marketing, six alcohol ads and 24 junk food ads, every day. For one teenager, this was as high as two gambling ads, 14 alcohol ads and 70 food ads over a typical two-hour period they spend online.
• Young adults aged 18 -25 years were seeing an average of two instances of gambling, seven alcohol ads and 23 junk food ads every day when online, which is similar rates to that experienced by teenagers.
• Harmful product marketing remains largely unregulated in Australia. As a result, children and young people are targeted with harmful product marketing when they are online. T