Week 9: Food Marketing and Environment Flashcards
What are the food marketing mechanisms?
• Price: short- and long-term price and type of pricing
(e.g. price cuts or quantity discounts)
• Promotion (Marketing communications): including
advertising, promotions, branding, nutrition and
health claims.
• Product: quality (composition, sensory properties,
calorie density, variety) and quantity (packing and
serving size)
• Place: Eating environment: availability, salience,
convenience
Can commodity prices be varied?
Not much since it is regulated by governments
Their prices are determined by world supply and demand
How are prices used as a food marketing strategy?
Most branded foods are NOT commodities They are priced/differentiated based on: • Advertising • Formulations • Packaging • Distribution
Explain Price Elasticity of Demand
Price elasticity is the relation between demand for a given food and its own price among consumers.
Change in demand > change in price - elastic
Change in demand < change in price - inelastic
How do long term change in prices influence food habits?
Increase price - decrease demand in the long run both for health foods and junk
If there is rise in price of unhealthy food - no increase in consumption of healthy food, they just eat less or spend more and get the junk
How to temporary change in prices influence food habits?
Initially it was thought that if they reduce prices, people who purchase other brands will now buy this
But Chandon et al found:
a) There is increase in buying of lowered price item, not just because of new people getting it due to lower price but those already getting the brand will also get it
b) There is stockpiling and increased consumption
c) The price reduction also mitigates guilt and incentivises them buying more
Types of food marketing communication (promotion)
Product attributes
Brand awareness
Enhances consumer expectation of sensory and non sensory benefits (eating with family, feeling good etc)
Food marketing communication channels
Traditional marketing channels • Television • Radio • Newspapers • Magazines
Non-traditional marketing channels • Internet • Social media • In-store • In movies, TV programmes • Online gaming • Sponsorship of events
Impacts of advertising and promotion on food
habits
1/3 of all ads on kids TV are food
Most ads about energy dense, sweet/salty foods
Recent global study of 13 countries: children exposed to
average of 5 food advertisements per hour.
Why are children particularly targeted?
• Don’t yet have fully formed preferences: vulnerable to
marketing.
• Likely preferences will continue into adulthood
There is a well-established link between TV viewing and
obesity– is this due to advertising?
Other possible explanations:
• Reduces calorie expenditure directly → not moving.
• Reduces calorie expenditure indirectly→ advertisements
for more sedentary activities.
• Associated with unhealthy snacking.
• Effects of distraction on eating.
Difficult to disentangle effects of TV advertising from TV viewing based on observational evidence….
Impacts of marketing on children’s dietary intake and
preference: evidence from experimental studies.
RCT found:
Significant increase in calories consumed following exposure to unhealthy dietary
advertising vs. non-dietary advertising.
• Non-significant increase in preference for unhealthy foods/beverages when accompanied by
advertising.
• More likely to select advertised products associated with their favourite characters/logos.
• Younger children (<9 years of age) may be more susceptible.
What effects for branding and labeling have on food habits? (promotion)
Strong influence on consumer’s expectations of how tasty, filling, or fattening, even though rarely true.
• Influence taste experience and retrospective evaluations of taste → more sales.
• Example: same food branded differently:
“fruit chews” versus “candy chews”
What impact do health and nutrition claims have on food habits?
Traffic light labelling beneficial
But may confuse people into thinking they need to have more of that food though it is irrelevant to them
Also they may have the perception that it is not tasty because its healthy
Effects of composition, sensory and nutritional properties
• Food a source of hedonic pleasure and stimulation
• Increasing sensory properties of food (taste, smell, feel) →
palatability → increases energy intake.
• I.e. we eat more if we like it!
• Colour: stronger flavour expectations, influences perceived sweetness
• Adding sugar, fat, salt: improves palatability.
• Reformulation to respond to health concerns.
• But, in general, nutritional profile of foods available has declined:
marketers prefer to compete on taste than nutrition.`
Effects of calorie density and sensory variety
Biggest share of marketing budgets and most
new product introductions are for caloriedense foods.
• Calorie density→ increases energy intake.
• Tend to eat same volume, regardless of calorie
density.
• Variety effect: more variety reduces sensoryspecific satiety within meals and monotony
across meals → increases consumption
volume.
