Frances Fleming-Milici, PhD

Director of Marketing Initiatives, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health | University of Connecticut

Storrs, CT, UNITED STATES

Dr. Fleming-Milici's work focuses on analyzing the impact of marketing practices on exposure and consumption of unhealthy food and beverages

Biography

Frances Fleming-Milici is the director of marketing initiatives for the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health.

She joined the Rudd Center’s marketing team in February 2011. Her work focuses on analyzing race/ethnicity differences in rates of exposure to advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages, and assessing the impact of targeted marketing practices on youth attitudes and consumption.

Her current research includes examining food and beverage social media marketing to adolescents and children and determining the effects of parent-targeted food and beverage marketing on the types of foods and beverages parents provide to their young children.

Dr. Fleming-Milici earned her Ph.D. in Mass Communication at the University of Connecticut.

Areas of Expertise (7)

Food marketing and childhood obesity

Food Marketing and Policy

Social Media Marketing

Social Media

Marketing Strategy

Unhealthy Food and Beverages

Youth Food Consumption

Education (1)

University of Connecticut: PhD, Mass Communication

Links (7)

Media

Publications Photos Videos Documents Audio/Podcasts

Publications:

Documents:

Photos:

Videos:

Audio/Podcasts:

Media Appearances (13)

Kids are sucking down baby food pouches at record rates. ‘We’re going to pay for it,’ experts say

Los Angeles Times

2024-10-17

Parents of picky eaters may be particularly vulnerable to this kind of marketing. “It’s kind of the perfect storm, when the child is transitioning to solids and trying new foods,” said Fran Fleming-Milici, director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut. “You’re not sure of the nutrition that the child is getting.

‘A troubling halo of health’: how Celsius became Red Bull for women

The Guardian online

2024-09-19

For decades, energy drinks like Monster, Red Bull and the caffeinated and alcoholic Four Loko aligned themselves with the interests of young men. “These drinks were associated with energy, extreme sports, girls in bikinis,” said Frances Fleming-Milici, who studies the marketing of energy drinks at University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for food policy and health. One 2015 study found that men who valued masculine ideals tended to believe that consuming energy drinks made them more macho.

Fast Food Forever: How McHaters Lost the Culture War

New York Times print

2024-05-24

Historically, fast-food companies have been very astute about marketing to children, realizing decades ago that creating customers early means creating customers for life. At the peak of his fame in the 1980s, Ronald McDonald was in some countries more recognizable to children than Mickey Mouse. In 2000, 90 percent of children ages 6 to 9 visited a McDonald’s in a given month. But as Frances Fleming-Milici, the director of marketing initiatives at the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, put it, “If it’s marketed to children, it’s probably bad for you.”

Toddler milk is ‘potentially harmful,’ AAP warns as calls mount for stricter regulations

Fox News online

2024-04-22

In spite of these warnings, toddler milk has grown into a $20 billion worldwide business, according to a recent report. “It is disappointing that regulations have not been strengthened, given package claims and marketing messages that imply toddler milks are beneficial, or even necessary, for a toddler’s healthy growth,” Fran Fleming-Milici, PhD, director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut, told Fox News Digital.

Front-of-Package Disclosures on Children’s Drink Packages Can Improve Purchase Choices, UConn Research Finds

Connecticut By the Numbers online

2023-11-15

"Most parents don't want to give their child drinks with added sugar or diet sweeteners, but companies make that very challenging. We show that clearly disclosing ingredients on the front of children's drink packages cuts through the marketing hype and helps parents recognize what is really in the drinks they buy for their children," says Fran Fleming-Milici, Director of Marketing Initiatives at the Rudd Center. "Requiring standardized front-of-package ingredient disclosures is a promising strategy to reduce children's sweetened drink consumption."

Toddler milks are often not as healthy as they claim

WUGA (NPR)

2023-10-24

"We have been studying the marketing of toddler milks for many years," says Fran Fleming-Milici, at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut. "And the misperceptions it creates among parents are endless." She points out that toddler milks are placed right next to formula in the supermarket which adds to parents' confusion. And while sweetened fruit-flavored drinks are the top source of added sugar for children, toddler milks are also a cause for concern. According to a recent study, 22% of caregivers reported giving toddler milk to infants aged 6 to 11 months, Fleming-Milici says, "but these products don't provide the nutrition that infants need."

So-called toddler milks are unregulated and unnecessary, a major pediatrician group says

El Pais online

2023-10-20

“It could be called the gateway sugary drink,” said Frances Fleming-Milici, director of marketing initiatives and a research professor with the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health at the University of Connecticut. The toddler milks are also more expensive than cow’s milk, experts said. “They’re not only not as good as cow’s milk and a balanced diet, they’re worse,” said Fuchs, a pediatrics professor at the University of Kentucky.

What’s in your food? Find the artificial sweeteners in these sugar-free grocery items.

The Washington Post print

2023-07-13

“Looking at an ingredient list doesn’t give [people] the information they need to make good decisions because most people, regardless of education, do not know the names of artificial sweeteners,” said Fran Fleming-Milici, director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut. In a recent Rudd survey of parents, more than 60 percent could not identify drinks that contained diet sweeteners, even when shown the information panel with nutrition and ingredient information.

Has The Food Marketing Industry Contributed To Childhood Obesity?

Radio Health Journal online

2023-05-14

Childhood obesity is one of the most common chronic diseases for children in the US. Experts say that the marketing of ultra-processed foods to kids has grown exponentially in recent years – promoting unhealthy diets. These experts break down the marketing strategies used to get product attention in grocery stores and online.

Kid YouTube stars make sugary junk food look good — to millions of young viewers

Health News Florida online

2023-02-16

"Kids as young as age 3 are spending time on YouTube," notes Frances Fleming-Milici, the director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut.

Video ‘countermarketing’ can help cut demand for unhealthy food, study finds

The New Lede online

2022-10-26

Viewing 45-second videos that explain common misperceptions about toddler milks and fruit drinks reduced caregivers’ intentions to serve these sweetened beverages to their young children, according to a study published today in the American Journal of Public Health. The study’s findings suggest that countermarketing messages could reduce demand for unhealthy foods. “We were delighted at the findings,” said Frances Fleming-Milici, a researcher with the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health at the University of Connecticut and an author of the study. “We’re hoping that we have an opportunity to see effects on actual behavior and long-term behavior.”

The Era of the Celebrity Meal

New York Times print

2021-12-08

“Young people become these unintentional marketers,” said Frances Fleming-Milici, the director of marketing initiatives for the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health. “Companies don’t have to pay for that organic content and all the TikToks that people make.”

New study finds fast-food companies spending more on ads, targeting Black and Hispanic youth

Medical Xpress online

2021-06-17

The fast-food industry spent $5 billion on advertising in 2019, and the advertisements disproportionately targeted Black and Hispanic youth, according to new research published today by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. The new report, Fast Food FACTS 2021, finds that the industry's annual ad spending in 2019 increased by over $400 million since 2012, and that children and teens were viewing on average more than two fast food TV ads per day.

Articles (6)

Why We Need a More Equitable Food Marketing Environment

Connecticut By the Numbers

2024-08-03

Food marketing is something everyone is exposed to every day—especially kids. Companies use TV ads, youth-directed packaging, outdoor signs, and sponsorships to promote products, as well as digital marketing via social media campaigns, in-game marketing, and paid promotions from influencers to target kids directly. Food marketing is even in online educational resources for kids. We rarely stop to think about it, but we should. The power of food marketing cannot be understated: it influences attitudes, preferences, and consumption; it reaches the youngest of ages; and it targets specific audiences, making exposure to unhealthy food promotion greater for some than others.

Prevalence of food and beverage brands in “made-for-kids” child-influencer YouTube videos: 2019–2020

Pediatric Obesity

2022 Child health experts raise numerous concerns about the negative effects of children's exposure to unhealthy digital food marketing, including advertising and branded product placements on child-oriented videos.

Companies are pushing sweetened drinks to children through advertising and misleading labels – and families are buying

The Conversation

2021-11-16

Walking down the drink aisle at any grocery store will take you past hundreds of drinks, from sodas to sports drinks. Children’s drink sections are filled with a vast array of products as well. Most parents want to buy what is healthy for their children, but with so many options in the drink aisle, it can be difficult to make the right choice – especially when drink companies make it hard to do so. I am a researcher at the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, and I’ve studied how food is marketed to kids and parents of young children for more than a decade. Companies spend huge sums advertising children’s drinks with added sweeteners. Despite the sweeteners, companies market these drinks as healthy choices for kids.

Adolescents’ engagement with unhealthy food and beverage brands on social media

Appetite

2020 Food-related promotion of brands via social media represents an increasingly important youthtargeted marketing strategy, but little is known about how adolescents interact with these brands online.

A qualitative assessment of US Black and Latino adolescents’ attitudes about targeted marketing of unhealthy food and beverages

Journal of Children and Media

2019 Food marketing targeted to Black and Latino adolescents primarily promotes energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods and likely contributes to diet-related health disparities. Targeted marketing raises further public health concerns as Black and Latino youth are also exposed to greater amounts of unhealthy food marketing in the media and their communities. H

Race, Ethnicity, and Other Factors Predicting U.S. Parents’ Support for Policies to Reduce Food and Beverage Marketing to Children and Adolescents

Health Equity

2018 Examine parents’ support for policies to reduce unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children and adolescents and identify racial, ethnic, and other sociodemographic characteristics that predict support.