Research needs on food marketing to children. Report of the StanMark project

A series of meetings on the topic of children’s exposure to the marketing of food and beverages was held between researchers and government officials based in Europe and the Americas during 2010–2011. The meetings resulted in a number of outputs, including observations from policy-makers on the types of evidence they needed to strengthen policy-making. Their observations on the definitions of a child, the specification of foods using nutrient profiling schemes, the types of media carrying marketing messages, and the related policy implementation problems, are summarised in this Short Communication. The paper highlights the need for research which can directly support policy-making and which can evaluate its effectiveness.