Three out of four parents in England have admitted to caving in to their children's demands for junk food during the weekly shop, according to new research presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul.
The survey of 1,050 parents found that 58 per cent said their children 'frequently' or 'always' pestered them to buy products high in fat, salt or sugar. Younger children aged four to 11 were the most persistent, while teenagers were also influential. As a result, 72 per cent of parents said they often bought the requested item.
The most commonly demanded treats were ice creams and lollies (45 per cent), sweets and chocolates (43 per cent), and biscuits (42 per cent). More than half of parents said children verbally asked for products, while one in three physically placed items in the trolley. A quarter said branded characters on packaging or TV adverts drove requests.
Lead researcher Emma Boyland, professor of food marketing and child health at the University of Liverpool, said: 'While children might not be paying the bill at the checkout, their influence over their parents' purchasing decisions is very real. Parents can and do say no, but the current food environment does not help.'
The findings come after government measures to curb childhood obesity, including a ban on supermarket multibuy promotions for unhealthy foods in October 2025 and a 9pm watershed for junk food TV ads introduced in January this year. The government estimates the ad ban will remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children's diets annually.
Co-author Dr Magdalena Muc from the Open University noted that parents experiencing food insecurity were pestered more often, calling it 'a real source of distress'. She added: 'Children are highly susceptible to powerful marketing of unhealthy foods, and frequent exposure prompts them to pester their parents, putting them at greater risk of obesity.'
