Influence of Social Media Ads on Food Choice

May 6, 2025 updated by: NYU Langone Health

Examining Influence of Social Media Ads on Black and White Adolescents' Food Choices

This is a randomized trial to examine the influence of race-congruent food marketing on social media among Black and White adolescents.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This randomized trial evaluates the extent to which exposure to racially congruent vs. incongruent Facebook food ads causes Black vs. White adolescents to purchase more calories for a snack

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1252

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10016
        • NYU Langone Health

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

13 years to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • adolescent (13-17 years of age)
  • who identifies as only non-Latino White or only Black/African American
  • who logs into Facebook once daily
  • who can read and speak English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • participants who do not meet all criteria described above.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Condition 1: Race Congruent Ads
Participants will complete a 15-minute survey in which they will be randomized to view and rate Facebook food ads associated with their condition. Then they will complete a food purchasing task in which they will shop in an online store that will display six food items and six beverages. Finally, they will answer demographic questions (e.g., self-reported height and weight) and view a debriefing summary that describes the full purpose of the study.
Behavioral: Racially Congruent Ads
Facebook food ads that are racially congruent.
Experimental: Condition 2: Race Incongruent Ads
Participants will complete a 15-minute survey in which they will be randomized to view and rate Facebook food ads associated with their condition. Then they will complete a food purchasing task in which they will shop in an online store that will display six food items and six beverages. Finally, they will answer demographic questions (e.g., self-reported height and weight) and view a debriefing summary that describes the full purpose of the study.
Behavioral: Racially Incongruent Ads
Facebook food ads that are racially incongruent.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Number of Calories Purchased
Time Frame: 15 minutes
15 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Attitude Toward Ad
Time Frame: 15 minutes
Attitude will be reported on a Likert scale of 1 to 100 (1 = likeable, 100 = unlikeable). The higher the score, the less likeable the ad is to the participant.
15 minutes
Time Spent Viewing Ad
Time Frame: 15 minutes
Time spend viewing ad.
15 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

NYU Langone Health

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Marie Bragg, PhD, NYU Langone Health

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 16, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 4, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

March 4, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 14, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 14, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

May 19, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 16, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 6, 2025

Last Verified

May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 20-01796-1
  • R01CA248441 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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