Children, media and food. Food advertising aimed at children audience in Spanish TV

Healthy living habits are the basis for optimal development in children and advertising can affect, positively or negatively, the maintenance of some of these habits. The analysis of food and drink advertising aimed at children during the enhanced protection zone is evidence of the growing problem of obesity in the child population generated through the food industry. The aim of this study is to assess the levels of compliance with the Code of Food and Drink Advertising to Children (Code PAOS). The methodology used was discourse and content analysis. For this purpose, a sample obtained through the recording, during 7 consecutive days, of the content of the advertising cuts in the television broadcast in Spain of three specialized and two generalist channels: Disney Channel, Neox and Boing, on the one hand, and Telecinco and Antena3, on the other. The reason for their choice is that they are the channels, within this segment, with the highest audience ratings. Specically, the sample was obtained during week from the 12th to the 18th of December 2018. The results reveal a systematic breach of this code that persuades the vulnerable conscience of children through a business network that far from promoting healthy living habits, they cause malnutrition in society. The immediate conclusion is that 9 out of 10 parts of the Food and Beverage Advertising (FBA) did not comply with any of the PAOS Code standards and that self-regulation by advertising companies seems insignicant.

Whether for capitalist doctrine, or for other adjacent reasons, advertising agencies and other marketing systems, many food companies x their target market, their target, in the children's public, posing minors as prescribers and consumers, although not necessarily as buyers. This practice is not mere exaltation of the norm between economic principles but is the fruit of utilitarianism where healthy food and the educational factor are put before packaged food, ultraprocessed and easy to use for the general public. Thus, the attraction of infant food brands starts from the behavioral psychology of young children.
Faced with this situation, a certain obligation arises on the part of the authorities to regulate the self-ful llment of certain ethical norms, as well as the legal obligation to take action against unfair companies against the consumer.
These deontological principles of advertising, voluntary, are constituted by a set of rules by which companies and entities are governed in the development of their activity in order to ensure ethical guidelines.
Multimedia groups have also become aware of the health problems of children and some conglomerates, such as A3Media (in the case of Spain), carried out in 2012 a campaign called 'El Estirón' (The strechted) which targeted children with childhood obesity. The campaign consisted of advertisements on the following channels: Antena 3, Neox, Nova and Nitro and on the radio stations Onda Cero and Europa FM. Some famous personalities took part in the campaign, giving advice on how to lead a healthy life.

European Good Safety Authority (EFSA) and Spanish Agency for Consum, Food Security and Nutrition (AECOSAN)
At the European level, EFSA is an independent body funded by European budgets, whose operation is outside the European Commission. It is responsible for advising governments on the existence of food risks and emerging epidemics or pandemics. This task is implemented in European legislation and policies with the company contributing to consumer protection and the welfare state.
Its objective is to safeguard public safety within the industry and among its tasks are priorities such as the collection and promotion of scienti c research, advice, dissemination and development of actions on food safety, cooperation with international bodies and building con dence in the food safety system.
In the case of Spain, there is the primary and co-regulatory care of the AECOSAN. This is one of the main bodies which is attached to the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality through the General Secretariat of Health and Consumer Affairs.
This gave rise to the PAOS Code (Code of Coregulation of Food and Beverage Advertising aimed at Minors, Prevention of Obesity and Health) [34], framed in the need for welfare, a need that concerns the child public in the promotion of a healthy diet, as opposed to an "advertising food" based on processed products.
The PAOS Code was reinforced in 2009 through a collaboration agreement with the main television operators in Spain so that television companies undertook to require that advertisements for food and beverages aimed at children under 12 years of age or that are broadcast in the reinforced protection bands for children, comply with the rules established in the PAOS Code.
In 2012 the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality and AECOSAN (Spanish Agency for Consumption, Food Safety and Nutrition) signed a new PAOS Code. The Spanish Federation of Food and Beverage Industries (FIAB), the Association for the Self-Regulation of Commercial Communication (Self-control of advertising), the distribution sector (ANGED, ASEDAS and ACES), the hotel industry (FEHR) and catering (FEHRCAREM) participated.
As a result of this updating of the PAOS Code, in addition to being applied to advertising for beverages and food aimed at children under 12 years of age, the code now also applies to advertising broadcast on the Internet, and the age of application is extended to 15 years.
Recently, a study carried [35] analyzed the monitoring of the PAOS code in the Boing channel in Spain. The results of this research concluded that certain points of this code were not being complied with, so the NAOS strategy, the 'Strategy for Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Obesity' (a plan whose aim is to reverse the trend in obesity prevalence through the promotion of healthy, in line with the World Health Organization or the European Union) was not being implemented.

Hypothesis And Objectives
Fraudulent or unethical use of advertising can harm the health of the most vulnerable. In this sense, the starting hypotheses for this research are: 1. Advertising for unhealthy food and drink promotes unhealthy eating habits, encouraging abusive consumption of products that are harmful to children and consequently to society.
2. Children's advertising is not adapted to the clear language that messages addressed to children up to 12 years old should be transmitted. This leads to values and sensations that can confuse children, so advertising for unhealthy food products can generate eating disorders or unhealthy habits in children, such overweight or obesity.
These brands encourage scienti c "research" by means of payments to support their false characteristics and to give the reason to lies with manipulated market studies. The strong implication of the governments in the problem that concerns us is proven, due to a lax legislation and favoring of the private companies.
Through this favoring of governments with private companies, in which there is no legislation in force regarding advertising aimed at children under 12 years of age, we have veri ed the existence of con icts of interest and in uences with a merely lucrative purpose.
Bearing in mind the above hypotheses, the general and speci c objectives are: To contrast the advertising rigor of the PAOS code with the advertising actions of the agencies within the Spanish area of action in order to comply with it.
In order to reach clear conclusions, the main brand techniques will be identi ed.
To analyze the values of the companies that sell the products, their relevant physical characteristics in their promotion or whether they are harmful to children's health products and nutritionally inadequate.
To assess the existence of professional ethics in this advertising sector.

Case Presentation
The main lines of action of this AECOSAN and NAOS Strategy are distributed into three pillars: health protection, prevention and promotion of health and the follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of health.
This framework for action is found within AECOSAN, prioritizing measures in favor of children and adolescents such as the NAOS Strategy, which includes a multitude of initiatives and self-regulation codes such as the one we are responsible for analyzing in this research -PAOS Code.
The NAOS Strategy (Nutrition, Physical Activity and Prevention of Obesity), therefore, is de ned as: the strategy whose goal is to reverse the trend in the prevalence of obesity through the promotion of a healthy diet and the practice of physical activity, and thereby substantially reduce the high morbidity and mortality rates attributable to noncommunicable diseases.
Within this strategy there are initiatives in the area of nutrition such as: working groups with the respective councils of the Autonomous Regions, collaboration with international organizations (WHO-Europe and European Commission) and associations of professionals and scienti c societies along with a multitude of publications and tools, such as the NAOS Pyramid and the Plan for the Promotion of Healthy Living Habits (HAVISA PLAN).
The rst of the campaigns used by the agency is the NAOS Pyramid in which we are shown the recommendations for consumption of different foods in parallel with the recommended physical activity. On the other hand, there is the HAVISA Plan, which is: "A communication campaign on television that gives visibility to messages and legends aimed at promoting healthy eating and regular physical activity, in line with the NAOS Strategy.
Finally, being the measure that drives this research we nd the PAOS Code: "this is applied as a code of co-regulation that allows reducing the selling pressure on children and improve the quality and content of all kinds of advertisements for food and beverages aimed at minors".

Methods
In order to focus the research, we start from the descriptive hermeneutic method. To this end, and based on a review of secondary sources, we have carried out a cross-sectional study of food and beverage advertising aimed at children under 15 years of age on television in Spain.
The sample was obtained through the recording during 7 days -week from the 12th to the 18th of December 2018-of television transmission by specialized channels at national level aimed at the child population and two general channels with higher ratings and share in the current panorama -Disney Channel, Neox, Boing, Telecinco and Antena3- [36].
Currently, there is a protected timetable from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., although there is also a time slot where protection is even more reinforced. The reinforced timetable includes mornings from Monday to Friday -8:00 to 9:00 hours and from 17:00 to 20:00 hours-and Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays -from 9:00 to 12:00 hours-, time fractions that were analyzed.
It is precisely through Law 7/2010, of 31 March, General Law of Audiovisual Communication [37], in its article 7, the person in charge of establishing said schedule and by which the appropriate contents are de ned in the broadcasting of those programs classi ed as recommended for children under 13, excluding totally from the reinforced protection schedule the broadcasting of programs classi ed for adults over that age. On the other hand, the time slot from 6:00 to 8:00, regulated as protected time, was excluded within the analysis period due to the absence or scarcity of a child audience. On the other hand, the last time slot -20:00 to 22:00-was also excluded from the analysis period in spite of being the last peak of child audience in the national territory since it is not regulated as a reinforced protected time slot, moving away from the line of this investigation.
These advertisements were classi ed by 6 researches (3 principal investigators, supervisors; 3 secondary investigators, support), according to their compliance with the PAOS Code and its ethical standards at three different levels: compliant, non-compliant and uncertain [31,38]. Using this classi cation, and based on its visualization by the researcher, the sample was typed, and these data were tabulated in an Excel table. Compliance with each standard was evaluated considering that they were in full compliance with the PAOS Code when none of the requirements or standards were circumvented, i.e., they are considered non-compliant if some of the standards internal to each standard are not met. Those whose compliance lacks consensus by external and impartial investigators and experts will be considered of uncertain compliance.
Previously, a classi cation of the total number of spots broadcasted was established and they have been analyzed by days of the week, by television channels (general and specialized), by types of products, by product categories and by duration of the spot.
The scope of application of the norms of the code considers addressees of the advertising piece according to their age, due to the vulnerability of the minor forces to overprotect him and to give him a special protection before the stimuli of the current economic system and the market economy.
This is why the food and beverage sectors aimed at children should not be exempted from special caution in the issuance of their advertising messages from compliance with the PAOS Code.
The rules of this Code are applied to advertising and promotion of food and beverages made by companies adhered to it and are aimed at children up to 15 years in audiovisual and print media, the latter being outside the investigation.
The labeling and packaging of these products were exempt from being regulated by this code since they will be governed by the legislation that is applicable. Those under the age of 15 in their use of the Internet were also excluded from this study as they are not part of the line of research followed.
Therefore, three fundamental criteria must be considered in order to consider that the commercial message is aimed at children less than 12 years of age in audiovisual media: I. Food products are those that are promoted objectively mainly to the public under 15 years of age.
II. Advertising designed in such a way that, due to its content, language and/or images, it is objective and suitable for attracting special attention or interest is aimed at children up to the age of 15.
III. Advertising broadcast in audiovisual media or in a medium objectively aimed mainly at this public is aimed at children up to the age of 15.

Legal aspects to consider
The points that safeguard the children and adolescent's safety within the PAOS code [34] and, therefore, its ethical standards in relation to food regulation in advertising can be seen in The advertising conforms to good faith and good commercial practices.
Education and nutritional information Bad habits and sedentary lifestyles will not be promoted; healthy habits and varied diet are promoted.
Presentation of products Promoted products do not mislead minors, do not lie about their benefits and are realistic without exploiting their imagination with special effects.
Product information: Product information presents characteristics in a clear way to simplify understanding.
Sales pressure: Advertising does not exploit children's inexperience, nor does it encourage them to persuade their parents. Product's benefits must be inherent in its use.

Support and promotion through characters and programs:
Advertising does not exploit children's confidence by using charismatic characters.
Advertising Identification Ads targeting are clearly separated from information programs.

Comparative Presentations
Ads comparisons among brands or products are clearly understandable to children.
Promotions, sweepstakes, contests, and children's clubs No unrealistic expectations are generated about the chances of winning the announced contest/award.

Security
The ads avoid violent scenes, inappropriate use of the product or encourage children to enter strange places or interact with strangers.
Processing of personal data These are procedures to recognize children and not be used outside the exchange of products-services.

Viral Marketing
Companies that carry out viral marketing campaigns do not capture data from third party recipients.

Protection against inappropriate content
Advertising companies do not display inappropriate content on partner websites, nor should there be any content that causes any harm, either physical or mental, to the child.
Source: Own elaboration Within each of these principles, a total of 32 standards are broken down, specifying the speci c aspects regulated by this code of self-regulation.

Results
Throughout the study period, approximately 300 food and beverage advertising pieces were identi ed, 177 of which were aimed at children under 15 years of age and were therefore collected to study them. Table 2 shows some features of Food and Beverage Advertising (FBA) aimed at children under 15 in Spain in 2018: 67.2% were broadcast on school days and 32.8% on Saturdays and Sundays; Boing with 42.94% of total broadcasts was the most frequent channel for transmission of food and drink advertisements aimed at girls; 70.62% of the products advertised were food and of these 83.05% were products belonging to the category of non-essential foods; nally the only advertising format was commercial spots with a duration of less than 21.7 seconds in 55.93%. Source: Own elaboration Table 3 shows the level of compliance with each ethical standard in the PAOS Code. The ethical standard that shows the highest rate of non-conformity with the code is principle number V. Information on products, only 6.78% are in compliance given that standard 9, language understandable to this public, in a clear, legible and prominent manner and careful overprints in size and length of stay were not suitable using terms and texts unconnected with this public leaving the mere recreation of visual stimuli the attention-catching factor inciting impulsive consumption. It is also worth mentioning another of the ethical norms with a lower compliance rate with respect to the code, such as the IV. Products presentation, due to there is a continuous non-compliance being only 10.17% of the commercial pieces according to the standards. Speci cally, four of the standards of standard IV stand out: adoption of special caution in the making and dissemination of FBAs -food and beverage advertisements -to children under 12 years of age in order to ensure that the presentations do not lead to errors about the product; not to induce errors about the bene ts derived from the use of the product; must not mislead by suggesting that the food product promoted has particular characteristics that the rest of the products in the sector do not have; precautions should be taken not to exploit the imagination of children under the age of 12, avoiding the use of fantastic elements, such as animations or cartoons, and the generation of unattainable expectations that exploit their vulnerability and innocence. Source: Own elaboration On the other hand, it is not only surprising the low level of compliance of the previous standards, since there are high percentages of uncertainty in their compliance with rates of 56.5% and 55.37%, respectively, in the order set forth above, but also the non-conformity indices of standards X and XI, the rst of which stands out to a greater extent. Standard X. Promotions, sweepstakes, contests and children's clubs, with 58.19% of non-compliance with the code violates the following standards on a recurring basis: An advertising message including a promotion must be designed in such a way that it clearly shows the advertised product and not just the promotional object. In this sense, as regards compliance or not with the principle of legality, there are two different versions of the spot, Cola Cao Music Boom, whose broadcast is repeated quasi-alternatively and where there is non-conformity and uncertain compliance with that rule. It does not fully comply with the contract that links it to the incipient 2020 Plan to Support Base Sports due to the absence of the logo in a time less than 50% of the duration of the spot.
The essential conditions of promotional offers should be expressed in advertising with simplicity and clarity; The advertising drawings included in FBA should not generate unrealistic expectations about the chances of winning or about the prize that can be obtained. Therefore: Prizes should be clearly indicated; misleading about the "chances" of being awarded should be avoided; the prizes awarded should be appropriate for this audience.
In order to avoid misleading, reference to children's clubs in the FBA may only be made if three requirements are met: Interactivity, continuity and/or exclusivity.
In the case of standard XI. Security, the rate of nonconformity shows us a percentage of 43.5%, suffering a violation of standards 22 and 23, which indicate the fact of avoiding scenes, images or messages that encourage a dangerous use of the product, or the incitement to enter strange places or converse with strangers.
Of the 32 ethical standards included in the 14 ethical norms promulgated by the PAOS Code, whose compliance is voluntary by companies in the food and beverage sector, it is observed that each of these is continuously violated. It is for this reason that table 3 sets out the standards not complied with recurrently in the 177 spots collected, divided in turn into 11 product categories coinciding with 11 disparate advertising pieces whose frequency throughout the period analyzed is displayed in the table by means of the nomenclature (n). The standards that show the highest percentages are: standard 4, which refers to the special caution in the implementation and dissemination of advertising aimed at the public analyzed in this investigation in order to preserve their vulnerability and induce errors by product presentations, with 66.7% of non-compliance among the spots that do not comply with ethical rule IV. Presentation of the products, in the same way referring to standard 7, referring to the duty to take precautions for the non-exploitation of the imagination through the use of fantasy and the consequent generation of unattainable expectations, the percentage of non-conformity is the same. Both standards, included in the fourth standard, are also immersed in advertising piece number 6, which is more incompatible with the PAOS Code corresponding to the spot on McDonald´s Spiderman's dolls in your Happy Meal! -with 10 of the standards breached and more than 45% of the standards breached. Within this spot there are also two of the standards with the highest non-conformity index such as standard 12, referring to the use of bene ts attributed to the product since these must be inherent to the product itself or its use, whose non-conformity index is 80% with respect to the standard and nally standard 19 corresponding to standard X.
Promotions, sweepstakes, contests and children's clubs to ensure clarity and simplicity to make legible and understandable the special conditions of promotional offers, in this case, this standard is violated 100% of the time that violates rule number 10.  4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2  8 11 Source: Own elaboration Of the 32 standards collected within the PAOS Code and evaluated individually that we named above, there is one even more violated, standard 9 of standard V. Information about products, which indicates the obligation to make use of a language understandable in order to be appropriate to its public. In 5 of the 11 pieces was violated and breached with 45.5% being the highest percentage of times not respected by agencies and advertisers. It should be noted that of the 11 pieces there were also 5 others (45.5%) that were of uncertain compliance and in which the consensus was minimal to be approved as in accordance with the code.
Overall compliance with the PAOS Code was 10.7% of the 177 FBA. Of the remaining 89.3% (n=159), 60% did not comply with at least three ethical standards, although the most repeated phenomena are non-compliance with two and three standards, 14.3% and 21.4% respectively of the total PAOS Code standards. Generally, non-compliance with 7 or more standards was 52 FBA (29.4%).
As can be seen in table 5 in general non-compliance with the PAOS Code was compared using the characteristics presented in table 2, establishing signi cant differences among them. Source: Own elaboration Through the data obtained and tabulated, the following cases were given: the FBA transmitted from Monday to Friday -school days-versus those broadcast on Saturday and Sunday are 57.1% vs. 32.8%, the rate of non-compliance by television channels between specialized and generalist channels was 82.4% vs. 7.3%, the typology of products is signi cantly higher in food versus drink (60.5% vs. 29.4%), in the case of the product category and its importance to the healthy development of the infant is 72.9% vs. 16.9% between the non-essential and miscellaneous categories, given that there were no advertising pieces concerning a nutritious product and, therefore, essential, nally on the duration of the piece 55.9% had a duration of less than 21.7 seconds compared to 33.9% whose duration was longer.

Conclusions
Including all the data collected, we can conclude that nearly 9 out of 10 FBA parts did not comply with any of the PAOS Code standards. It should also be noted that the standards with the highest levels of incompatibility with this code are those that attempt to safeguard the vulnerability and innocence of children by exposing pieces with clarity and simplicity of information to the recipient who escapes their intellectual level and of understanding by inhibiting their scarce critical vision. Non-compliance with the PAOS Code was substantially greater in the case of specialized channels as opposed to generalist channels because of their greater frequency of pieces that violate their innocence, these channels being directed at their intellectual development, the backbone of which is correct nutrition.
Self-regulation by those companies that make commercial pieces aimed at minors seems insigni cant, with children being the main victims. On the other hand, since the state measures of voluntary adhesion are supposed to be of a lax condition, this implies the need to print a greater legislative rigidity and to integrate all those agencies and advertisers whose target are minors.
Non-compliance with this code is continuous, given that two situations occur: Firstly, the non-adherence to the PAOS Code, which prevents the establishment of a review of the spots in order to 'reduce the prevalence of obesity and overweight and its consequences, both in the area of public health and its social repercussions', an objective that is shared with global organizations such as the WHO and, secondly, the existence of con icts of interest, which are latent when, on reviewing recent campaigns and an evaluation of a multitude of products, we see how associations whose purpose is to guarantee and safeguard the health of the population, promote food that is clearly detrimental to our health.
Through the Higher Sports Council, whose function is to promote modernization and innovation in all areas of the sports system, a strategy was created to awaken interest in sport among children and young people, known as the ADB 2020 Plan [55]. This plan aimed at supporting grassroots sport and increasing the number of practitioners established a communication strategy seeking to generate greater impact and visibility through participation in spots with a number of promoting brands, in this case reference is made to the brand Cola Cao and its spot Cola Cao -Music Boom. According to a recent study launched by the American Heart Association called 'Added Sugars and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Children' [56], the mission of the added sugars is to increase the palatability of the food and its conservation, this added sugar being an addiction to the product. Some of the conclusions we can draw about this study are: The increase in suffering from cardiovascular diseases due to the consumption of added sugars.
Consumption should be limited to less than 25 grams of added sugars per day.
Weight loss in children who modify their diet by replacing sugary drinks with sweetened or caloric ones.
The incongruity of promoting sporting activities and in turn encouraging the intake of ultra-processed foods with a zero nutritional pro le is contrary to the supposed healthy impulse carried out through the ADB Plan. The practice of sports must be adequately accompanied by an optimal supply of nutrients seeking to maximize performance, and not based on free sugars whose physiological response is the main cause of the world's largest pandemic, childhood obesity.
Through the data provided by the WHO [57] it is indicated how the rates of childhood obesity for the year 2022 will surpass those of underweight, unless certain trade policies are modi ed at an international level and their recommendations are respected. In addition, the former Director-General of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, in her opening address to the 3rd Meeting of the Commission to End Childhood Obesity [58], delivered the following words: "Childhood obesity does not arise from lifestyle choices made by the child. It arises from environments created by society and supported by government policies. The argument that obesity is the result of personal lifestyle choices, often used to excuse governments from any responsibility to intervene, cannot apply to childhood obesity".
It is also interesting to note that the consumption of the amounts currently ingested of ultra-processed foods with low nutritional intake and high glycemic load pose a potential risk given the misinformation that exists about the harmfulness of this matter. All of this is sheltered under the mantle of the emerging obesogenic society that supposes a strong genetic in uence that carries the "weapon" and, consequently, causes our diet to pull the "trigger" [59].
On the other hand, according to recent studies [53,54,60,61], the intake of sugary beverages, such as the one sponsored by the Higher Sports Council, demonstrates an evident positive association between their consumption and the growing incidence of metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.
Obesity is increasing in epidemic proportions worldwide and, above all, with a higher incidence in children and adolescents. It is therefore imperative to devise strategies to curb these constantly growing rates, as this is a target with a greater vulnerability than adults, given their cognitive immaturity, which becomes more noticeable the younger their age range. This means that, being exempt from the development of their capacities, they passively decode messages [62], increasing children's preferences for those advertising brands that promote nutritionally poor products [63].
Given the above, the latent persuasive capacity of advertising can be observed how it generates certain stimuli in brain regions of cognitive control towards high-calorie and ultra-processed foods in young children both normal weight and obese [64] and that the accumulated exposure to television advertising, which is composed of 33.2% of food spots mostly insane, are positively linked to food choices of high-calorie products, energy and low level [65]. We understand that this reality, shown by numerous studies, invites re ection on the importance of early education for children when it comes to properly selecting healthy food choices, and how harmful it is to use children's vulnerability as a business strategy for children's health.
It is also observed how the results of the present study consisting of direct observation reported a perspective free of suspicions of how the advertising companies and the organizations that endorse them were not exempt from con icts of interest, and it is that these facts are becoming increasingly evident as stated by the former WHO Director General, Margaret Chan [66]: "Efforts to prevent non-communicable diseases run counter to the commercial interests of powerful economic agents".
Based on research published in the British Medical Journal, we are aware of another of the main advocates of the endemic world nutritional crisis, the socalled liquid caramel, a term coined by Dr. Chan, to refer to the business giant of non-alcoholic sugary beverages and which is referred to in other article [67].
By means of this article, the procedures followed by this company to generate a good brand image and the bene ts that this represents for the general population are made known, de ecting any suspicion that its consumption could cause any ailment or diseases such as obesity, blaming any consequence to the inactivity of the population consuming this kind of products. Likewise, it is possible to emphasize how, by chance, many studies that do not demonstrate the causality between obesity and the consumption of sugary drinks are nanced by those companies that commercialize them, originating advertising infoxication [68]. In relation to the manifest discordance between experts in nutrition and the market offer, the gestation of these con icts of interest is even more palpable, highlighting not only the use of nancing studies as a communication strategy for these brands, but also through the overprinting in packaging or insertions of ies within the advertising piece with the logo of medical entities, whose purpose is to induce consumers to a false belief in a healthy product (Bollycao, Colacao and Puleva cases, supported by entities that prostitute their values for an economic purpose, such as SEDCA -the Spanish Society of Dietetics and Food Sciences-, SEPEAP -the Spanish Society of Paediatrics Extrahospitalaria and Primary Care-, and the AEP -the Spanish Association of Paediatrics-, respectively. Another case that leaves the existence of this con ict of interests latent is the campaign that was recently launched by McDonald´s with the endorsement of two alleged opinion leaders in the food sector for devoting themselves to it and for being one of the image of the talent show "Masterchef", Samantha Vallejo, as well as Teresa Valero, nutritionist and director of information and scienti c dissemination of the Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN). Both leaders promote the product Happy Meal in the advertising piece "Happy outside, happy inside", contributing that this is a "super balanced and healthy food". The controversy generated after the launch of the campaign nally forced to withdraw the spot immediately and with the issuance of a statement by the agency involved ensuring that its intention with this project "was to convey the need to improve and expand the balance, variety and moderation in the supply of restaurant chains, we understand that may have generated confusion" [69].
This systematic incongruence to which we refer, based on praising products of dubious quality and origin, cost the foundation part of its reputation when it is supposed nature lies in promoting research and knowledge of the different parcels of nutrition and highlighting the role of the food industry in improving the nutrition of the people [70]. This question has been early replied by other researches [71].
Once we have carried out this exercise of transparency whose only motive is economic, we will take as a reference the recommendations of the WHO [16] to focus on the nutritional aspects of the campaign of McDonald´s 'Happy outside, happy inside'. This business giant provides through its website a nutritional calculator where you can quantify the calories, macronutrients and micronutrients ingested through any of the products they offer in their establishments. guidelines to complete a healthy and balanced diet for children. Figure 1 shows how, through the Happy Meal menu, half the calories to be ingested by an average child or adult are reached, supported by the recommendations of this international organism, established around 2000 calories and more than doubling the consumption of added sugars daily. The daily values (DV) established by WHO de ne this menu as highly energetic, with a poor lipidic pro le, a high surplus in sodium, a null contribution of ber and a very low protein quality, of uncertain origin, being especially worrying the association of medical entities that supposedly endorse the habits of healthy life and that try to improve the nutrition of the Spaniards with companies whose nutritional offer is a nonsense for the Spanish society.
It is worrying how health professionals who, as prescribers and social interveners, with the aim of promoting proposals based on scienti c evidence, modifying their environment and guiding them in the choice of healthy habits, not only do not support the code of self-regulation but also fail to comply with their own code of ethics and Royal Decree 1907Decree /1996 with the aim of health and by which any kind of advertising or promotion of products is prohibited.
Finally, another example of a hidden con ict of interest is the promotion of one of the categories of Bimbo products, speci cally BollyCao. In this case, by the mere fact of fortifying its product with iron it receives the seal of the Spanish Society of Dietetics and Food Sciences (SEDCA) and, therefore, its endorsement, being BollyCao a clear example of ultra-processed food of high energy density and poor both in nutrients and in the quality of its ingredients. This is why it is worrying how the vulnerability of children is harmed by an excessive eagerness to increase the capital of companies without taking into account the effects they have on this population. The failure to declare con icts of interest is something that is emphasized but not analyzed in the PAOS Code, a code which is incapable of limiting children's exposure to advertising for unhealthy foods and beverages and which is far from examples of measures taken on other continents, such as that in gures 2, 3 and 4.
It is evident how the animated and fantastic reclamation disappears as well as measures like the black warning stamps take a strong prominence of the packaging, helping to limit and warn the parents and instructing them by means of recommendations for portions.
It is surprising, in line with the above, how, of the 177 advertising pieces collected and divided into 11 spots, only one (10.2%) complies with the children's advertising self-regulatory code (PAOS) although with two of the rules analyzed and categorized as of uncertain compliance, corresponding to the spot of the Suchard Christmas campaign "being together is extraordinary".
This assumption occurred repeatedly in all the advertising pieces, assuming one of the main limitations of the study, subjectivity. Some of the standards were complex to analyze and, in order to reduce the error, and increase the reliability of the investigation, an attempt was made to reach a consensus in those cases in which doubts arose. Once consensus was reached, the category to which it belonged was de ned; otherwise uncertain compliance is resorted to. Another limitation we found is the lack of representativeness of the sample and the date on which such data was collected, given that we assume that it was a period that could have been contaminated by the context -winter period-and the boom in purchases of children's leisure products and their constant promotion in the medium analyzed. However, and despite the limitations, we believe that the object of study is representative and that the repetition of the FBA on the different television channels was of great help, having been an arduous and highly laborious task, although executed with great professionalism and enthusiasm.

Discussion
The medium analyzed is one of the main advocates of advertising and speci cally of the sector to which we refer, food and beverages aimed at children. The need to educate the present and future parents of the world, arousing in them a critical capacity in the face of the numerous stimuli to which we are subjected on a daily basis, is totemic or even vital in order to improve the horrifying rates of childhood obesity in Spain, as shown by a recent study carried out by the World Health Organization's European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative [72], with rates of around 40% of the child population suffering from obesity.
The tangible consequences that the dietary guidelines of large corporations and the invaluable help of public bodies provoke in infants those diseases that will accompany them in later years of their lives.
Advertising in populations deprived of the necessary judgement instigates that our diet is based on more than 30% on the acquisition of energy from ultraprocessed foods [73]. Of course, blaming infants for being in their stage of primary development is not established in this article, what is requested is a lesser laxity of the institutions towards the corporations causing the epidemic of the 21st century that help us to cease this nutritional crisis that plagues us, and from which it is di cult to escape when more than 60% of beverage and food advertisements are aimed at children and almost 70% of those advertisements are for unhealthy products, all according to the report of the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) of 2017, "child advertising, unhealthy advertising" [74]. This Code is inserted by the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumption in the NAOS Strategy [75] to reduce the prevalence of obesity, although leaving latent as a lax regulatory approach, is unable to limit and control the exposure of advertising that violates a multitude of rules and standards.
Perhaps, the di culty of identifying the advertising commercial objectives and its persuasive intentions, already demonstrated [76], does not seem to be enough to take measures that allow these communication strategies to affect this public.
From this point of view, any advertising that subjects early audiences to mercantile stimuli, due to the harmful consequences that these will have for their health, could be considered deceptive.
The evidence shows a food industry that, far from having qualms about the work they perform, encourages public health entities and political o cials to boost their economic growth, corrupting them and causing them to oppose public legal regulation [77,78].
The in uence of the food industries and their continuous exposure is especially notable in Spain, where the measures implemented can do nothing more than palliate their effects and promote a voluntary code of self-regulation that disregards the recommendations of international bodies such as the WHO.
In addition, most of the products advertised in Spain that openly declare that they are healthy products or with a high nutritional value do not correspond to reality, inducing to error those innocent children and ignorant parents, producing an imminent need to regulate those advertising claims used as a claim and that falsify the quality of the product, forcing to displace from our diet healthy foods for any organic process and for the prevention of diseases.
It is for this reason that the trend of the current self-regulation code, in force since 2005, is far from presenting attering data regarding its usefulness.
Likewise, it is essential to carry out a substantial improvement of this, to restrict the huge overexposure to which children are subject to unhealthy products or with null nutritional pro les and essentially to question each agent involved in this process, if the desire for pro t prevails over the code of ethics of each profession and its own ethics. We cannot allow the sugar ma as [79] and ultra-processed food ma as to act as the tobacco companies did, delaying the taking of measures to alleviate this global dietary crisis [80,81].

Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable

Consent for publication
We, the authors, give our consent to the publication of the information, data, analysis and treatment of them in the text.

Availability of data and material
All data have been extracted by the authors and are available to them.

Competing interests
The interest of this work lies in the desire to highlight objective data that are in uential in child feeding.  Tables   Table 1 - The advertising conforms to good faith and good commercial practices.
Education and nutritional information Bad habits and sedentary lifestyles will not be promoted; healthy habits and varied diet are promoted.
Presentation of products Promoted products do not mislead minors, do not lie about their benefits and are realistic without exploiting their imagination with special effects.
Product information: Product information presents characteristics in a clear way to simplify understanding.
Sales pressure: Advertising does not exploit children's inexperience, nor does it encourage them to persuade their parents. Product's benefits must be inherent in its use.

Support and promotion through characters and programs:
Advertising does not exploit children's confidence by using charismatic characters.
Advertising Identification Ads targeting are clearly separated from information programs.

Comparative Presentations
Ads comparisons among brands or products are clearly understandable to children.
Promotions, sweepstakes, contests, and children's clubs No unrealistic expectations are generated about the chances of winning the announced contest/award.

Security
The ads avoid violent scenes, inappropriate use of the product or encourage children to enter strange places or interact with strangers.
Processing of personal data These are procedures to recognize children and not be used outside the exchange of products-services.

Viral Marketing
Companies that carry out viral marketing campaigns do not capture data from third party recipients.

Protection against inappropriate content
Advertising companies do not display inappropriate content on partner websites, nor should there be any content that causes any harm, either physical or mental, to the child.  Source: Own elaboration Source: Own elaboration Ph. D. Irene García-Medina [1] [1] 'Essential products' are considered those These are those frequently used dietary products that help the physical and mental the child's development; 'not essential products' are those with low, poor or no-nutritional value; 'miscellaneous' are those products which, although not strictly essential for human development, have an average nutritional value and whose moderate intake is not considered harmful [51][52][53][54].