Advertising and Marketing

Emily Koval

Fast Food Ad vs. Reality

Which one looks healthier the advertisement or real deal? Food advertising can distort not only nutritional information but also unconsciously primed “healthy” food cues in the pictures

Marketing Junk Food to Kids

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgLkHC79zJY

• Behind the shady world of marketing junk food to kids

Priming Effects of TV food Advertising on Eating Behavior

• Health authorities believe that unhealthy message communicated to children through food ads are the leading cause of overconsumption – Exposed to 15 food advertisements daily

(underestimated?), 98 percent were high in fat, sugar and/or sodium

– Also portrayed unhealthy eating behaviors with positive outcomes– i.e. eating at non meal times

Marketing towards Children

• Food and snacks are COOL, FUN, and will make kids HAPPY

• Food advertisements leads to greater preferences and purchase of products being advertised – What does this say about the law suits against Mc

Donald’s and their advertising strategies?

Harris, Bargh, Brownell (2009)

• Used food advertisements as real world primes for both children and adults to trigger automatic snacking

• They found that:– children consumed 45 percent more when exposed to

food advertisements– Adults consumed more of both healthy and unhealthy

snack foods after exposure to food advertisement – Food ads are a powerful prime beyond just brand

preferences

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaqISEs_uj0&feature=fvwrel

According to the article presented, would songs like this work in advertising healthy food to children? What about adults ?

Can we make vegetables and fruits cool, happy, and fun?

Discussion Questions:

• What methods and design did the researchers use to explore automatic food cues?

• How does this study relate to external cues as discussed in last week’s topic of environmental cues?

• Do you think it is possible to “defend against advertising influences” as the researchers recommend on page 411?

Paradoxical Effect of Dietary Commercials on Reinhibition of Dietary Restraint

• Maintaining a restrained diet is difficult! – Most dieters experience periods of restraint follow

by periods of disinhibited over eating• Researchers speculated that one way to help

dieters regain control after a “binge” is to remind dieters on their aims by providing a model who exemplifies successful mastery of diet goals

Strauss, Doyle, & Kriepe cnt.

• Study differed from past research– instead of presenting a model before presenting snack items, they interrupted disinhibited eating with commercial advertisements of slender women undergoing successful diets

• They hypothesized that restrained participants who saw diet-oriented ads would eat less (or be reinhibited) but……

Their results revealed the opposite!

• “High restrained participants who viewed the diet-oriented clip ate nearly twice as much as any other group; they essentially binged”

• Ads served as “painful feedback” that the restrained eaters had broken their diet – and the body image presented was currently unattainable.

Possible Explanations

• Ego Threat: the model served as a threat to dieters egos, and thus acted as a disinhibitor for restrained eaters

• Self Esteem: Those with low self esteem may be particularly vulnerable to ego threats

• Timing is Crucial! – Past studies found models presented before the snack item

lead to inhibition and reorientation with goals – This study showed that dieters who perceive themselves at

the “point of no return” will further disinhibit their eating restraint

Discussion Questions: • What implications does this study have on marketing effects on

TV commercials? • Do you think that exposure to TV could correlate with number of

disinhibition episodes a restrained eater undergoes? • What are your feelings about the studies main conclusion that “

visual reminders about diets– even (or especially?) successful ones- can paradoxically lead to increased rather decreased consumption under certain circumstances”?

• What does this study suggest about the advertising strategies employed by the multibillion dollar diet industry in the U.S.? What alternative strategies should be employed to counter the effects found in this study?