Monitoring and Restriction System on Food and Beverage Marketing in Thailand and Selected Countries: Gap, Weakness, and Opportunity for Development
Keywords:
monitoring system, food and beverage marketing, unhealthy dietsAbstract
A monitoring system of food and beverage marketing plays a crucial role in tracking progress in the marketing of food industry particularly the marketing of unhealthy food and beverage. The objective of this study was to review the existing monitoring system of food and beverage marketing in Thailand and foreign countries, and to analyze the gaps and opportunities for improving the monitoring system of food and beverage marketing in Thailand. Document review and in-depth interviews with the stakeholders were conducted. Searches were performed through PubMed, Google Scholar, websites of international organizations (such as UNICEF) and relevant organizations in Thailand, selected country databases such as Chile, Republic of Korea, and Australia from 2007 to 2021-timeframe. Purposive sampling was used to identify key informants from government agencies, academia, and civil societies for interviews. Content
analysis by using the World Health Organization’s set of recommendations on marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children was performed on the data from stakeholder interviews and document reviews. Results showed that Thailand, Chile, and the Republic of Korea had government agencies responsible for monitoring the marketing of food and beverage. While the governments of Thailand and Chile cooperated with relevant agencies to monitor the marketing of food and beverage, Australia was active in co-regulation between government and private sectors to monitor food and beverage marketing in collaboration with active civil society sector. Key challenges for Thailand included lack of human resource, outcomes monitoring, and progress report on complaint management. Opportunities for improvement included technology utilization, collaboration and information sharing with relevant agencies and civil society.
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