Data on the Facebook marketing strategies used by fast-food chains in four Latin American countries during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

We developed three datasets. First, a dataset with the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) of 1015 Facebook posts of five fast-food chains present in Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Peru. Second, a dataset of 106 content-analyzed posts we used in a pilot to determine intercoder reliability using statistical tests. Third, a dataset of a final sample of the 1015 content-analyzed posts that we used to determine the variables most frequently used. Following a mixed-methods approach, we developed 29 variables that recorded general information, as well as the marketing strategies we identified in the posts, including 14 COVID-19 specific variables. These data should help to monitor the social media marketing strategies that fast-food chains have introduced during the COVID-19 lockdowns, thus providing initial evidence about how they could be contributing to an unhealthy food environment.