Mexico is tackling childhood obesity with innovative food policies, and two Mexican researchers are at the forefront of this battle. Claudia Nieto and Gabriela García, PhD students from Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health (INSP), are currently visiting scholars at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Global Food Research Program (GFRP), bringing their expertise to a global stage. Their work highlights Mexico’s commitment to public health, particularly its groundbreaking approach to regulating food marketing, including the use of beloved Mexican Cartoon Characters on food packaging.
Claudia Nieto headshot
Claudia Nieto, a Vital Strategies Healthy Food Policy Fellow, is deeply interested in how digital food marketing influences children’s eating habits. Her personal experiences fuel her professional drive. She recalls being captivated by Hello Kitty marketing as a child, eagerly wanting McDonald’s Happy Meals just to collect the Hello Kitty figurines. This early exposure to marketing’s power made her realize its significant impact on children’s food choices. Even preschoolers, she notes, can recognize brand logos, demonstrating the effectiveness of food marketing from a very young age.
“Marketing has the power to influence so much of children’s behavior and what they want to eat,” Claudia explains. “Even children in preschool can remember logos and say the name of the brand.” This understanding underscores the importance of policies that protect children from unhealthy food marketing, a key area of Claudia’s research.
Food packages for doughnuts, cereal, snacks, and a soda shown twice — once with text
Mexico’s proactive stance on this issue is evident in its 2021 policy that banned mexican cartoon characters from the packaging of foods high in calories, sugar, saturated fat, trans fat, or sodium. This bold move aimed to reduce the appeal of unhealthy products to children. Claudia advocates for extending this ban and other marketing restrictions to digital platforms and broadening the timeframe for television advertising regulations. Currently, regulations in Mexico are minimal concerning unhealthy food advertising during child-directed broadcasting. Advertisers can bypass restrictions by claiming a show isn’t specifically for children, even if children are a significant part of the audience for programs like soccer matches or soap operas. Claudia believes her research can contribute to more comprehensive policies that genuinely protect children from pervasive unhealthy food marketing.
Gabriela García, a Fulbright Scholar, also draws from childhood experiences to inform her work in nutrition. Her father’s straightforward approach to healthy eating, while perhaps a bit startling, instilled in her a deep understanding of nutrition from a young age. Recounting a childhood memory, Gabriela shares, “I wanted the colorful cereal with the animal on the front of the box. I asked my father for it, but instead he gave me the plain cereal and a bag of sugar on the side,” Her father’s dramatic, yet effective, lesson about sugar content sparked a lifelong interest in nutrition. “He told me, ‘If you want to die, put this entire bag of sugar on the cereal!’ Of course, he scared me, and I did not put the sugar on the cereal.” This anecdote highlights the early influences that shaped her path to becoming a nutritionist.
Gabriela García headshot
Gabriela’s research focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of Mexico’s taxes on sugary drinks and non-essential foods. Implemented nearly a decade ago, these taxes are a significant part of Mexico’s strategy to combat obesity. Gabriela is investigating how these taxes have changed household purchasing habits and their long-term impact on children’s weight. While initial impacts have been observed, she notes that populations adapt to changes over time. To maintain and enhance the positive effects, Gabriela suggests that increasing the tax could be a beneficial next step. “We’ve seen an impact, but people get accustomed to change,” Gabriela states. “The best-case scenario would be to increase the tax again, if we would like to see more change.”
Both Claudia and Gabriela are enthusiastic about their time at UNC-Chapel Hill and their collaboration with GFRP. They also appreciate the opportunity to observe the food landscape in the United States. Claudia remarks on the “diversity in packaged food choices” in American supermarkets, enjoying the chance to compare nutrition information across different brands, expanding her understanding of processed food options beyond Mexico. Gabriela expresses her enjoyment of the cultural exchange within the research group, particularly the sharing of food from different cultures, reinforcing the central role of food in their lives and research.
Their research and experiences highlight Mexico’s commitment to innovative public health policies, including addressing the subtle yet powerful influence of mexican cartoon characters and marketing on children’s food choices. By studying these policies and their impacts, Claudia and Gabriela are contributing valuable insights to the global fight against childhood obesity.
Two female graduate students smiling, standing outside in front of a blurry orange sculpture in the background
CLAUDIA’S RECENT PUBLICATIONS
The nature and extent of food marketing on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube posts in Mexico, Pediatric Obesity, Mar. 2023
Unhealthy Food: The Beverage Industry’s Digital Media Campaign to Stop the Approval of the Front-of- Package Labelling System in Mexico, ESR Review, Dec. 2022
GABRIELA’S RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Dietary patterns are associated with obesity in Mexican schoolchildren, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Mar. 2020
Contribución de los alimentos a la ingesta total de energía en la dieta de los mexicanos mayores de cinco años (Contribution of food to the total energy intake in the diet of Mexicans older than five years), Salud Pública de Mexico, Feb. 2020
