► Food and beverage marketing to children is international, pervasive and pluralistic. ► The evidence confirms marketing can influence children’s diet, dietary determinants and health. ► Most ...commercial marketing is for products high in fats, sugars and salt. ► Global action is needed to reduce the impact of current marketing practice. ► We recommend future research on how and what policy actions can effectively protect children.
A 2009 systematic review of the international evidence on food and beverage marketing to children is the most recent internationally comprehensive review of the evidence base. Its findings are consistent with other independent, rigorous reviews conducted during the period 2003–2012. Food promotions have a direct effect on children’s nutrition knowledge, preferences, purchase behaviour, consumption patterns and diet-related health. Current marketing practice predominantly promotes low nutrition foods and beverages. Rebalancing the food marketing landscape’ is a recurring policy aim of interventions aimed at constraining food and beverage promotions to children. The collective review evidence on marketing practice indicates little progress towards policy aims has been achieved during the period 2003–2012. There is a gap in the evidence base on how substantive policy implementation can be achieved. We recommend a priority for future policy relevant research is a greater emphasis on translational research. A global framework for co-ordinated intervention to constrain unhealthy food marketing which has received high level support provides valuable insight on some aspects of immediate implementation research priorities.
Natural claims on food products create a large number of positive expectations. This research aims to reveal which potentially disconfirmed expectations about ‘natural’ food are problematic as they ...harm consumer attitudes and intentions. In a pre-study (N = 160), we show that consumers expect natural-claimed food to be organic, locally produced, minimally processed, fresh, to ensure better animal welfare, and to be free from GMO, artificial ingredients, antibiotics, and hormones. In our main study (N = 2152), we show that the natural claim increases purchase intention, mediated via brand trust and product attitude. However, when consumers learn that their expectations may be disconfirmed, their brand- and product-related attitudes decrease, which in turn leads to reduced purchase intentions. These findings imply that food marketers can profit from the natural claim, but that there is a large potential for irresponsible food marketing and consumer deception, which can result in negative expectation disconfirmation. We also inform policy makers which product expectations should be considered for consumer protection against halo effects induced by the natural claim. Regulation or education about the meaning of the claim can help consumers to make more informed decisions.
We all witness, in advertising and on supermarket shelves, the fierce competition for our food dollars. In this engrossing exposé, Marion Nestle goes behind the scenes to reveal how the competition ...really works and how it affects our health. The abundance of food in the United States--enough calories to meet the needs of every man, woman, and child twice over--has a downside. Our over-efficient food industry must do everything possible to persuade people to eat more--more food, more often, and in larger portions--no matter what it does to waistlines or well-being. Like manufacturing cigarettes or building weapons, making food is big business. Food companies in 2000 generated nearly
Retailers and their supply-chain partners should reconsider their competitive advantages in today's technology-enhanced environment and search for opportunities to collaborate. Mobile applications ...have emerged as a special form of e-commerce that provide convenience for consumers by saving time and effort. In the pandemic days, people prefer using mobile applications in particular to order food from restaurants and protect themselves from COVID-19. Even though there are many previous studies regarding mobile application usage, they have investigated the antecedents of mobile app adoption. Today, consumers already have adopted them, yet there is a need to understand the outcomes of mobile application usage, especially for mobile food-ordering apps (MFOAs). To fill this gap, this study first positions the MFOAs among other mobile food applications regarding their business models. Then, a structural model was developed and tested by focusing on the outcomes of MFOA usage. A survey of 217 participants was conducted, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM). The main contribution of the results is the finding that MFOA satisfaction plays a critical role in developing restaurants' brand satisfaction and loyalty. Thus, brands should cooperate with MFOA providers.
Summary
Background
Digital food marketing is increasing and has an impact on children's behaviour. Limited research has been performed in Latin America.
Objectives
To determine the extent and nature ...of Mexican children's and adolescents' exposure to digital food and beverage marketing during recreational internet use.
Methods
A crowdsourcing strategy was used to recruit 347 participants during the COVID‐19 lockdown. Participants completed a survey and recorded 45 minutes of their device's screen time using screen‐capture software. Food marketing was identified and nutrition information for each marketed product was collected. Healthfulness of products was determined using the Pan‐American Health Organization and the Mexican Nutrient Profile Model (NPM). A content analysis was undertaken to assess marketing techniques.
Results
Overall, 69.5% of children and adolescents were exposed to digital food marketing. Most frequently marketed foods were ready‐made foods. Children and adolescents would typically see a median of 2.7 food marketing exposures per hour, 8 daily exposures during a weekday and 6.7 during a weekend day. We estimated 47.3 food marketing exposures per week (2461 per year). The most used marketing technique was brand characters. Marketing was appealing to children and adolescents yet most of the products were not permitted for marketing to children according to the NPMs (>90%).
Conclusions
Mexican children and adolescents were exposed to unhealthy digital food marketing. The Government should enforce evidence‐based mandatory regulations on digital media.
Food marketing is facing increasing challenges in using portion size (e.g., “supersizing”) as a marketing tool. Marketers have used portion size to attract customers and encourage purchase, but ...social agencies are expressing concern that larger portion sizes encourage greater consumption, which can cause excessive consumption and obesity. This article addresses two questions that are central to this debate: (1) How much effect does portion size have on consumption? and (2) Are there limits to this effect? A meta-analytic review reveals that, for a doubling of portion size, consumption increases by 35% on average. However, the effect has limits. An extended analysis shows that the effect of portion size is curvilinear: as portions become increasingly larger, the effect diminishes. In addition, although the portion-size effect is widespread and robust across a range of individual and environmental factors, the analysis shows that it is weaker among children, women, and overweight individuals, as well as for nonsnack food items and in contexts in which more attention is given to the food being eaten.
As consumers continue to struggle with issues related to unhealthy consumption, the goal of front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels is to provide nutrition information in more understandable formats. ...The marketplace is filled with different FOP labels, but their true effects remain unclear, as does which label works best to change perceptions and behaviors. We address these issues through an interdisciplinary meta-analysis, generalizing the findings of 114 articles on the impact of FOP labels on outcomes such as consumers’ ability to identify healthier options, product perceptions, purchase behavior, and consumption. The results show that, although FOP labels help consumers to identify healthier products, their ability to nudge consumers toward healthier choices is more limited. Importantly, FOP labels may lead to halo effects, positively influencing not only virtue but also vice products, e.g., interpretive nutrient-specific labels improve health perceptions of both vice and virtue products, yet they influence only the purchase intention of virtues.
The current study aimed to investigate availability and placement of healthy and discretionary (less healthy) food in supermarkets in Victoria, Australia, and examine variation by supermarket chain ...and area-level socio-economic disadvantage.
Cross-sectional supermarket audit. Measures included: (i) proportion of shelf space (in square metres) allocated to selected healthy and discretionary food and beverages; (ii) proportion of end-of-aisle, checkout and island bin displays containing discretionary food and beverages and (iii) proportion of space within end-of-aisle, checkout and island bin displays devoted to discretionary food and beverages.
Metropolitan areas of Melbourne and Geelong, Australia. Assessment: June-July 2019.
Random sample of 104 stores, with equal numbers from each supermarket group (Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and Independent stores) within strata of area-level socio-economic position.
Proportion of shelf space devoted to selected discretionary foods was greater for Independent stores (72·7 %) compared with Woolworths (65·7 %), Coles (64·8 %) and Aldi (63·2 %) (all P < 0·001). Proportion of shelf space devoted to selected discretionary food for all Coles, Woolworths and Aldi stores was 9·7 % higher in the most compared with the least disadvantaged areas (P = 0·002). Across all stores, 90 % of staff-assisted checkout displays and 50 % of end-of-aisle displays included discretionary food. Aldi was less likely to feature discretionary food in end-of-aisle and checkout displays compared with other supermarket groups.
Extensive marketing of discretionary food in all Australian supermarket chains was observed, which is likely to strongly influence purchasing patterns and population diets. Findings should be used to inform private and public sector policies to reduce marketing of discretionary food in supermarkets.
Food marketing increases product appeal, purchasing, and consumption, using diverse strategies and locations to reach consumers.
The aim of this study was to examine differences in adults' ...self-reported exposure to various marketing strategies (brand and licensed characters, celebrities, and sponsorship of sports and cultural events) and locations (television, radio, and digital media) across 5 countries: Australia, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
We analyzed cross-sectional survey data on self-reported exposure to food marketing strategies and locations collected in 2018 by the International Food Policy Study. Participants (n = 21,678) aged ≥18 years completed an online survey. Exposures to unhealthy food marketing strategies and locations in the prior 30 days were self-reported. Regression models examined differences in marketing exposure and locations across countries.
The average number of unhealthy food marketing strategies to which participants reported being exposed ranged from 0.5 in the United Kingdom to 2.3 in Mexico. Self-reported exposure to strategies across all countries was highest for brand characters (32%), followed by licensed characters (22%). In total, the reported mean exposure of marketing locations was 1.6 in the prior month. Television was the most prevalent location (44%), followed by digital marketing (32%). Adjusted models indicated that the odds of reporting exposure to marketing strategies and marketing locations were higher for Mexico compared to the rest of the countries.
Adults report a variety of exposures to unhealthy food marketing in all countries, but exposure was highest in Mexico. Special attention should be paid to regulating marketing strategies, such as brand characters and licensed characters, and locations, such as television and digital marketing.
ABSTRACT We argue that contracting with the federal government involves significant proprietary information cost due to regulations requiring contractors to provide proprietary information, which may ...become available to outsiders via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. We provide evidence by showing that firms become more willing to bid for government contracts after a recent Supreme Court ruling on FOIA (Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media) that improved information protection for contractors and that this effect strengthens when the contracts entail higher proprietary information cost for contractors. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: K4; M4.
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