3F - Workshop 3: Evidence to Action: research to advance action on harmful digital marketing
Tracks
Stream F
| Wednesday, September 16, 2026 |
| 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM |
| Banheep Room A&B (Combined) |
Speaker
Prof Kathryn Backholer
Professor Of Public Health Policy
Deakin University
Workshop: Evidence to action: Research to Advance Action on Harmful Digital Marketing
Abstract
Hosted by: Kathryn Backholer
Facilitated by:
Navoda Liyanay Pathirana (Deakin University)
Florentine Martino (Deakin University)
Ana Paula Cardoso Richter (Deakin University)
Bridget Kelly Gillott (University of Wollongong)
Kremlin Wickramasinghe (WHO Europe)
Xi Yin (WHO Western Pacific)
Target Audience:
Public Health professionals
Public Health researchers
Advocates
Government officials
Marketing regulators
International and national policymakers
Learning Outcomes:
1. Discuss current gaps, policy challenges and opportunities in Australia and globally in reducing digital marketing harms to public health
2. Discuss novel protocols and study designs, including use of Artificial Intelligence for holding harmful industries accountable for the digtial marketing practices.
3. Identify opportunities for interdisciplinary, cross-sector and cross-country collaborations to strengthen research and policy impact.
Workshop Summary:
Nearly two thirds of NCDs are linked to preventable behaviours such as tobacco use, harmful alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, and physical inactivity. Progress in addressing these risks has stalled as powerful commercial industries use sophisticated digital marketing to promote harmful consumption and shape environments that normalise unhealthy behaviours. While there is strong public and policy support for greater protections, particularly for children and young people, regulatory systems have not kept pace with the scale and sophistication of digital marketing. Policymakers face three key barriers: digital marketing is largely invisible (individual exposure cannot be observed), rapidly evolving (technologies and tactics outpace regulation), and poorly quantified. As a result, governments lack the evidence required to prioritise action and the tools needed to monitor compliance and enforce regulation. In this workshop, we will start by discussing the global policy challenges and opportunities in reducing digital marketing harms, presented by heads of Non-Communicable Disease Divisions of WHO Europe and the Western Pacific. It will be followed by a presentation by Prof Bridget Kelly of the University of Wollongong on the new INFORMOS protocol for classification of permitted and non-permitted commodities, and a presentation by the SCANNER Team from Deakin University on their program of work using public interest AI-enabled platforms as a policy tool to support advocacy and to hold industries accountable to their marketing practices. Following the speakers' presentations, the speakers and audience will workshop opportunities for interdisciplianry, cross-sector and cross-country partnerships for advancing action on harmful digtial makreting.
Facilitated by:
Navoda Liyanay Pathirana (Deakin University)
Florentine Martino (Deakin University)
Ana Paula Cardoso Richter (Deakin University)
Bridget Kelly Gillott (University of Wollongong)
Kremlin Wickramasinghe (WHO Europe)
Xi Yin (WHO Western Pacific)
Target Audience:
Public Health professionals
Public Health researchers
Advocates
Government officials
Marketing regulators
International and national policymakers
Learning Outcomes:
1. Discuss current gaps, policy challenges and opportunities in Australia and globally in reducing digital marketing harms to public health
2. Discuss novel protocols and study designs, including use of Artificial Intelligence for holding harmful industries accountable for the digtial marketing practices.
3. Identify opportunities for interdisciplinary, cross-sector and cross-country collaborations to strengthen research and policy impact.
Workshop Summary:
Nearly two thirds of NCDs are linked to preventable behaviours such as tobacco use, harmful alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, and physical inactivity. Progress in addressing these risks has stalled as powerful commercial industries use sophisticated digital marketing to promote harmful consumption and shape environments that normalise unhealthy behaviours. While there is strong public and policy support for greater protections, particularly for children and young people, regulatory systems have not kept pace with the scale and sophistication of digital marketing. Policymakers face three key barriers: digital marketing is largely invisible (individual exposure cannot be observed), rapidly evolving (technologies and tactics outpace regulation), and poorly quantified. As a result, governments lack the evidence required to prioritise action and the tools needed to monitor compliance and enforce regulation. In this workshop, we will start by discussing the global policy challenges and opportunities in reducing digital marketing harms, presented by heads of Non-Communicable Disease Divisions of WHO Europe and the Western Pacific. It will be followed by a presentation by Prof Bridget Kelly of the University of Wollongong on the new INFORMOS protocol for classification of permitted and non-permitted commodities, and a presentation by the SCANNER Team from Deakin University on their program of work using public interest AI-enabled platforms as a policy tool to support advocacy and to hold industries accountable to their marketing practices. Following the speakers' presentations, the speakers and audience will workshop opportunities for interdisciplianry, cross-sector and cross-country partnerships for advancing action on harmful digtial makreting.
