Clara Muela-Molina

Introducción: La presente investigación profundiza en la posible influencia de factores poco estudiados en la interacción que despiertan los vídeos de YouTube sobre dietas milagro, dado el potencial riesgo de salud pública que pueden suponer los consejos que ofrecen, especialmente para la población joven. Metodología: Se analizaron los 50 vídeos más vistos sobre dietas rápidas subidos entre enero de 2020 y junio de 2021 en español y en inglés. A través de un análisis de contenido cuantitativo se estudió la influencia de variables sobre la relación con la audiencia y la presencia en cámara, la expresión de emociones y la descripción y análisis de la dieta o producto sobre la interacción y consumo del video. Resultados: Los factores estudiados no tienen apenas efecto, como tampoco lo tuvo el idioma, en las cifras de visionados, comentarios, likes, dislikes y compartidos. Discusión: Lo anterior se interpreta como señal de un consumo acrítico e irreflexivo, lo que podría suponer riesgos si la audiencia sigue dietas o consume productos que puedan suponer un riesgo para la salud. Conclusiones: El trabajo aspiraba a abrir nuevas vías de análisis de contenidos de salud en YouTube poniendo el foco en características de los vídeos menos estudiadas en la literatura previa. A pesar de los escasos efectos observados, se plantea la necesidad de seguir abordando factores como las emociones transmitidas, el tipo de información utilizada o la actitud hacia los productos o dietas tratados.

Objective: Restrictions on advertising of high-alcohol-content beverages aims to prevent consumption in young people and alcohol misuse in adults. The main objective of this research was to analyze the presence of distilled spirits mentions and its compliance with legislation in relation to the minor protection time slot, the factors associated with drinking, and the promotion of excessive consumption. Method: We conducted a content analysis of all advertising mentioning spirits broadcast throughout 2017 on news/talk radio stations targeting an adult audience in Spain. We identified 355 radio mentions. Results: The special protection time slot for minors was disregarded in 91.8% of cases. Radio personalities encouraged immoderate consumption in 76.6% of the analyzed mentions, and associated alcohol consumption with improved physical performance, social success, or health in 42.3% of cases. Conclusions: This study reveals the shortcomings of public administration in the control and monitoring of spirits mentions in the radio medium, in a context in which the adult population is unprotected against messages that frequently encourage excessive consumption and associate it with positive and gratifying values.

Objective: The excessive growth of the food supplements’ industry highlights the need to focus attention on all aspects involved in their proper consumption; one that takes centre stage is advertising. The aim of this research is to analyse the presence of false and misleading claims in food supplements advertising. To this end, a relationship is established between the different types of health-related claims and the substances on which they are based, whether authorised or not by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).Design: This empirical work conducts a content analysis of all radio mentions broadcast throughout 2017 on news/talk radio stations.Setting: Spain.Participants: All radio mentions broadcast on news/talk commercial radio stations in Spain with the highest audience levels. The corpus is composed of 437 advertisements.Results: Results indicate that 80·3 % of function claims included in the analysed advertisements are not authorised by EFSA, while 20·4 % of disease claims are not allowed by EU regulation. Likewise, almost half of the substances referred to (43·7 %) are illicit: 54·1 % in function claims, 57·3 % in disease claims and 73·7 % in the case of reduction of disease risk claims.Conclusions: This work reveals consistent failures to comply with European regulation on food supplements advertising. The widespread use of unauthorised health claims and substances is aggravated by the indirect recourse of illness as a persuasive argument, descriptions of alleged benefits as product attributes and the omission of essential information. This leads to dangerous misinformation and can pose serious health risks. Stronger legal mechanisms are needed for effective consumer protection.

Introducción: Los anunciantes utilizan testimoniales debido a su potencial en términos de persuasión y eficacia del mensaje. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las declaraciones de propiedades saludables en la publicidad de complementos alimenticios estableciendo la relación entre las personalidades de radio y la información relacionada con la salud. Metodología: Se realizó un análisis de contenido de todas las menciones radiales —con un corpus final de 437— emitidas en 2017 en las tres emisoras de radio generalista con mayor audiencia. Resultados: Predominan los locutores de radio (55%) sobre los colaboradores (45%), siendo las declaraciones funcionales el tipo más prevalente (99,5%), seguido de las declaraciones de enfermedad, prohibidas por ley. Los colaboradores mencionan reclamos no autorizados con mayor frecuencia que los locutores. En relación a la información obligatoria sobre el contenido del producto, el 79% de las menciones no refiere ningún mineral que sustente sus supuestos beneficios. Discusión: Los anunciantes explotan la credibilidad de los líderes de opinión para respaldar los complementos alimenticios. Estas figuras son claramente inadecuadas para recomendar estos productos, ya que pueden implicar un gran riesgo para la salud de los consumidores. El uso significativo e ilícito de estas declaraciones exige una legislación más restrictiva y mecanismos de control más estrictos por parte de las autoridades autorreguladoras. Conclusiones: Si bien los anunciantes son los únicos responsables del anuncio, la responsabilidad debe extenderse a los responsables de los medios y personalidades de la radio, debido a su influencia social, para una mayor protección contra la publicidad ilícita.

This research analyzes the presence of advertising and radio mentions of alcoholic beverages and sports betting, two products that represent harmful behaviors for the audiences’ health. To do this, a quantitative content analysis was undertaken for all of the programming of the three most listened radio stations in Spain (Cadena Ser, COPE, and Onda Cero) throughout 2017, obtaining a total corpus of 2848 radio messages distributed as follows: 266 radio spots and 2582 radio mentions. The messages were also analyzed according to the broadcasting schedules (protected time-slot or non-protected time-slot). The results showed that advertising and sports betting mentions were more present in the regular programming of the three stations (n = 2304), with mentions (n = 2582) being more numerous than advertising spots (n = 544). Moreover, it is evident that in practice, none of the radio stations respected the protected time slots since the majority of the mentions and spots of high alcoholic beverages and sports bets were verified between 6:00–21:59 (n = 2522). These results show the prevailing need for greater control over this type of content by public entities, demonstrating a significant lack of regulation by the media’s self-control mechanisms.

The aims of this study are to analyze the presence of endorsers in DS advertising on Spanish radio and the health-related product information of endorsements on full service Spanish radio. To this end, the content analysis of all radio spots broadcast throughout the year 2017 is conducted, deriving a corpus of 165 different radio spots belonging to the product category of dietary supplements, broadcast a total of 10,566 times. According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, endorsers are a peripheral cue and increase advertising persuasion. The main results show that the most prevalent type of endorser in DS radio spots is the anonymous spokesperson, followed by celebrities, and that endorsers use explicit claims more frequently than implicit claims. Additionally, experts and celebrities use rational appeals more frequently while emotional appeals predominate in endorsements by typical consumers. Thus, rational appeals are prevalent in endorsements voiced by the most credible endorsers: experts and celebrities. That is, the higher the social recognition and credibility of the endorser, the greater the weight of direct, explicit and rational arguments in the message, while less attention is given to emotional appeals.

Radio advertorials (RA) are long advertisements broadcasted within the programming and executed by journalists to imitate editorial content. An analysis of their presence, use and characteristics confirms that journalists and radio owners are not rigorous in the application of the codes of conduct that regulate this advertising feature in Spain. This work focuses on these rules and propose a matrix of variables, such as time slot, product category, type of endorser, advertiser identification, format and copy text style, which identifies these inappropriate practices in the sample under study. The results show that RAs are more prevalent during time slots with higher audience ratings and in programmes hosted by well-known radio personalities. Also, most RAs are embedded within the editorial content of programmes and are formatted as interviews, and their copy style is informative.

Testimoniales en la publicidad radiofónica de productos relacionados con la salud en España y su regulación (2009-2016)