{"id":40063,"date":"2025-05-21T07:30:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T07:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjgh\/?p=40063"},"modified":"2025-05-21T07:30:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T07:30:47","slug":"young-people-food-delivery-and-corporate-influence-its-time-for-the-public-health-research-community-to-back-youth-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjgh\/2025\/05\/21\/young-people-food-delivery-and-corporate-influence-its-time-for-the-public-health-research-community-to-back-youth-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Young people, food delivery, and corporate influence: It\u2019s time for the public health research community to back youth leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We are facing a global nutrition crisis, with an estimated 93 million children (5-14-years) and 81 million young people (15-24-years) living with obesity<\/a>. As food environments become increasingly shaped by corporate influence, particularly through digital platforms, the autonomy of young people is being redefined.<\/p>\n

Australia appears to be one of the first countries globally where a food delivery platform, Uber Eats, has formally introduced a teen-specific feature<\/a>, legitimising adolescents as independent users within digital food environments. In the United States, DoorDash offers discounted subscriptions for college students<\/a> and in India, Swiggy use gamified and youth-driven campaigns<\/a>, reflecting a broader industry trend toward targeting younger users. While framed as empowering, these initiatives raise important questions: what kind of autonomy are we enabling, and in what kind of food environment?<\/p>\n

The global online food delivery market is projected to reach a revenue of US$1.4 trillion<\/a>. These companies\u2019 decisions shape now what millions of young people see and choose to consume daily.<\/p>\n

While food companies often defend their practices under the banner of \u2018freedom of choice\u2019, this argument obscures reality: corporate actors are actively shaping and saturating the food environment to favour unhealthy choices, casting a wide net that public health efforts struggle to penetrate. The commercial determinants of unhealthy diets<\/a> have created an environment where young people\u2019s autonomy is distorted by corporate influence.<\/p>\n

The online food delivery company tactics reflects a broader corporate trend worldwide: targeting young people as a unique market demographic. \u00a0Whether through digital marketing, influencer advertising, or app-based purchasing, food companies and the food delivery apps that amplify their reach are increasingly embedding themselves in the lives of young people and doing so under the guise of \u201cchoice\u201d and \u201cconvenience.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Food delivery apps have become a new frontier in this landscape<\/a>. With fast food chains prominently featured<\/a>, algorithmic suggestions skewed toward unhealthy choices, and marketing tailored to young users, these platforms are contributing to a food environment that undermines health<\/a>. For young people navigating independence, these environments are not supportive.<\/p>\n

In response to these challenges in the digital world, recommended public health policies<\/a> have rightly focused on protection-oriented strategies, such as restricting marketing to young people. These measures are essential and have a strong evidence base for reducing harm. Yet despite global endorsement, these policies remain poorly implemented across food delivery platforms. As highlighted in recent analyses<\/a>, there is a significant regulatory gap.<\/p>\n

While governments and research bodies may not yet view young people as a powerful group to engage, corporate companies do, recognising them as a key market and investing heavily to influence their choices.<\/p>\n

This contrast in approach is telling. Commercial platforms like online food delivery companies engage young people by offering autonomy – allowing them to make decisions independently, even without parental oversight. In contrast, many public health policies are developed for young people, without their input, in the name of protection. The success of commercial programs provides a critical lesson: when young people are given independence and treated as decision-makers, engagement follows.<\/p>\n

Even when policies are pursued, they are too often developed without engaging young people in the process<\/a>. While these policy recommendations mostly target broader food environments and childhood obesity, they rarely include young people in shaping solutions. When youth perspectives are excluded, policies risk becoming paternalistic, overlooking the insights, creativity, and leadership that young people bring.<\/p>\n

Young people themselves are not standing idly by. Youth-led movements are already pushing back against unhealthy food systems. For example, the UK-based Bite Back campaign, powered by youth activists, calls for a \u201ccommercial break<\/a>\u201d from relentless junk food marketing. Their \u201cGive Us A Commercial Break\u201d campaign exposes the saturation of unhealthy food ads in underserved communities and challenges decision-makers to act.<\/p>\n

The group also helped expose a breach of the UK\u2019s junk food advertising code, when a Just Eat advertisement featuring McDonald\u2019s was found to inappropriately appeal to children<\/a>, a clear example of how corporate marketing sidesteps regulation while youth advocates hold them to account.<\/p>\n

The Adolescent Wellbeing Framework<\/a> outlines key pillars of adolescent health: supportive environments, opportunities to contribute, and meaningful participation in decisions that affect their lives. Good health and nutrition are deeply interconnected with all three, yet today\u2019s food environments often undermine them. Ensuring that young people can thrive means not only protecting their wellbeing but also enabling them to actively shape the systems that influence it.<\/p>\n

As a community, we can align our work with this vision by:<\/p>\n