Research Projects

#DigitalYouth

A project that collects screen capture data (video recordings of the entire screen of a digital device) from 300 children and young people in Australia as they go about their daily digital lives. This involves capturing a wide range of activities − from social media interactions to gaming sessions, online shopping, and more.

As the data is collected, it is meticulously analysed using SCANNER which identifies and extracts all relevant marketing instances. By using the sophisticated capabilities of SCANNER, we can report with high accuracy on children and young people's exposure to various forms of digital marketing, including e-cigarettes (vapes), tobacco, gambling, alcohol, and unhealthy foods and beverages. This comprehensive analysis aims to provide a clearer understanding of the digital marketing landscape and its impact on youth behaviour and health.

Digital food marketing exposure in Ireland: the CLICKBITE study

Adolescents' digital device screens were recorded while they engaged with social media for CLICKBITE, a broader study implementing the World Health Organization's CLICK Framework in Ireland (led by The Open University in collaboration with Universities of Galway, Liverpool, Dublin and Ulster). SCANNER was trained for brands covering the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. CLICKBITE, via a full manual analysis of adolescents' digital food environments, assessed SCANNER's measures of unhealthy food brand exposures to test out SCANNER performance.

Assessing unhealthy food marketing exposure in the UK

As part of a broader study to collect baseline data before the implementation of the UK food marketing laws, SCANNER was adapted to the England context (led by the University of Liverpool). SCANNER was then used to analyse screen capture data from children and adolescents to understand their exposures to digital food marketing.

Influencer study

SCANNER is used to understand the extent and characteristics of influencer marketing for e-cigarettes (vapes), tobacco, gambling, alcohol, as well as unhealthy foods and beverages by 70 most popular influencers among adolescents in Australia.

Sport sponsorships study

SCANNER is used to understand the total time that gambling, alcohol, and unhealthy foods and beverage brands are visible during professional sporting matches aired on free-to-air television.

This study aims to quantify the exposure time and frequency of such advertisements to better understand their impact on viewers, especially the younger audience.

#DigitalMob

Our team is working with the Murrnong Mob at Deakin University to understand digital marketing exposures among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

SCANNER will be used to analyse screen capture data from a cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults. We will compare our findings to those of the #DigitalYouth study to see if there is a difference in marketing exposure between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous young people.