Browsing by Author "De Man, J"

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    Exposure of children to unhealthy food and beverage advertisements in South Africa
    (MPDI, 2021) Yamoah, D.A; De Man, J; Onagbiye, S.O
    Television (TV) is a powerful medium for marketing food and beverages. Food and beverage marketers tend to use this medium to target children with the hope that children will in turn influence their families’ food choices. No study has assessed the compliance of TV marketers with the South African Marketing to Children pledge since the enactment of the 2014 food advertising recommendations by the South African Department of Health and the Advertising Standards Au-thority. This study investigated the extent and nature of advertising of unhealthy versus healthy food and beverages to children in South African TV broadcasting channels. The date, time, type, frequency and target audience of food advertisements (ads) on four free-to-air South African TV channels were recorded and captured using a structured assessment guide. The presence of persuasive marketing techniques was also assessed. Unhealthy food and beverage advertising was recorded at a significantly higher rate compared with healthy food and beverages during the time frame when children were likely to be watching TV.
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    The pandemic of online research in times of COVID-19
    (BMJ Publishing Group, 2021) Tabana, H; Campbell, L; De Man, J
    The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an explosion of online research using rating scales. While this approach can be useful, two of the major challenges affecting the quality of this type of research include selection bias and the use of non-validated scales. Online research is prone to various forms of selection bias, including self-selection bias, non-response bias or only reaching specific subgroups. The use of rating scales requires contextually validated scales that meet psychometrical properties such as validity, reliability and - for cross-country comparisons - invariance across settings. We discuss options to prevent or tackle these challenges. Researchers, readers, editors and reviewers need to take a critical stance towards research using this type of methodology.