From informational towards transformational advertising strategies? A content analysis of Belgian food magazine advertisements

Abstract

Belgian food advertising was selected as an adequate representation of Western (European) food advertising because marketing in Belgium is permeated by international influences (cf., Belgian Federal Government). Advertisements were sampled from three magazines over a period of five years, from January 2009 to December 2013. The sample comprised 325 unique advertisements, including 159 for healthy foods and 166 for unhealthy foods. Findings: The results of the content analysis indicated that healthy food advertisements in Belgium are mainly informational, whereas unhealthy food advertisements are mainly transformational. Originality/value: This preliminary examination of informational and transformational advertising appeals in contemporary healthy food and unhealthy food advertisements shows that healthy food advertisements in Belgium are mainly informational, whereas the segment of consumers which is precariouspeople low-involved with healthy foodare mainly attracted by transformational advertising appeals. The contrasting transformational strategy of unhealthy-food advertisements can provide inspiration for healthy food advertisers to help increase healthy food consumption.

The pleasure of sharing: Can social context make healthy food more appealing?

“…Healthy food advertising is not found as effective as unhealthy food advertising (Pettigrew, 2016). As indicated before, this may be because healthy food advertising often uses a rational approach, whereas unhealthy food advertising is found to embrace a more emotional approach (Roose et al, 2018), including the use of pleasure (Pettigrew, 2016). The results of the present study indicate that pleasure may be equally promising in the promotion of healthy food.…”

“…However, because pleasure is an important factor driving human behavior, it is considered equally interesting in the promotion of healthy eating. Contemporary healthy food campaigns take on a more rational perspective by providing information and relying on knowledge (Guthrie, Mancino, & Lin, 2015; Pérez‐Cueto, Aschemann‐Witzel, Shankar, & Verbeke, 2011; Roose, Geuens, & Vermeir, 2018). Although this perspective has been proven successful in creating awareness of the importance of a healthy diet (Pérez‐Cueto et al, 2011), the effect on actual lifestyle changes is questioned (Bucher et al, 2016; Just & Payne, 2009; Pérez‐Cueto et al, 2011).…”

Healthy Advertising Coming to Its Senses: The Effectiveness of Sensory Appeals in Healthy Food Advertising

“…At first sight, the findings by Elder and Krishna [17] could suggest that multiple-sense ads can also promote healthy food. However, previous research shows that healthy food advertising and unhealthy food advertising often use different advertising techniques [33] and also call for different advertising techniques in order to be effective [34].…”

Visual Design Cues Impacting Food Choice: A Review and Future Research Agenda

“…No research to date has investigated what the effects of a specific picture–word ratio is on product perceptions, attitudes and behaviour. Research of Roose et al [ 281 ] seems to suggest that visual cues in particular should be used to attract low involvement customers. Via a content analysis of food advertising, the authors found that informational cues (i.e., mostly verbal cues) are mostly prevalent in healthy food advertising while, transformational cues (i.e., mostly visual cues) dominate unhealthy food advertising.…”

“…People looked longer at the text than the cartoon and the cartoon was not given full inspection until the text had been read. Also, Hegarty [ 281 ] shows that the comprehension process is largely text directed. Similarly, Rayner et al [ 278 ] found that viewers tended to read the large print, then the smaller print, and then they looked at the picture.…”