Parent's responses to nutrient claims and sports celebrity endorsements on energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods: an experimental study

Abstract

Objective: To assess parents' responses to common, potentially misleading strategies for marketing energy-dense and nutrient-poor (EDNP) child-oriented foods. Design: Between-subjects online experiment to test whether nutrient claims and sports celebrity endorsements on the front of packs of EDNP products lead parents to prefer and rate these foods more favourably. Setting: Australia. Subjects: A total of 1551 parents of children aged 5-12 years, who were the main household grocery buyers. Results: Inclusion of nutrient claims or sports celebrity endorsements on EDNP products led parents to perceive these products to be more nutritious than if they did not include such promotions. When asked to choose between a pair of different products (EDNP v. healthier), 56 % of parents did not read a nutrition information panel (NIP) before making their choice and this did not differ by promotion condition. These parents were more likely to choose an EDNP product if it included a nutrient claim (OR 5 1?83, 95 % CI 1?31, 2?56; P , 0?001) or sports celebrity endorsement (OR 5 2?37, 95 % CI 1?70, 3?32; P , 0?001). Sports celebrity endorsements also enhanced parent's perceptions of typical consumers of the product, perceptions of product healthiness and quality, as well as purchase intentions. Conclusions: Nutrient claims and sports celebrity endorsements tip consumer preferences towards EDNP products bearing such promotions, especially among the majority who do not read the NIP. As parents largely determine what foods are available to children at home, it is critical that initiatives aimed at reducing the persuasive impact of food marketing include this target group.

Strategies Used for Food and Beverage Advertisements in Bengaluru City – A Visual Interpretive Study

“…Moreover, more than half of the advertisements that had health claims promised enhancement of well-being. This is misleading as well-being is a broad area that involves that balance of mental, social and physical well-being (Dixon et al, 2011 Children and adolescents are eating more outside food, drinking more soft drinks, and snacking more frequently (Story et al, 2004). Childhood overweight and obesity is a major public health concern.…”

“…Food choices now-a-days are influenced by the advertising, focusing directly on consumers and marketing techniques have come under scrutiny for their probable contribution to promoting unhealthy eating and childhood obesity (Dixon et al, 2011). Advertisement (ads) is one of the effective tools of integrated marketing communication to emotionally motivate consumers to buy the products, (Vijayapushpam et al, 2013) adapting to the cultural and social contexts of the target audience.…”

Differences in the nutritional content of baby and toddler foods with front-of-package nutrition claims issued by manufacturers v. governments/health organizations

“…It does not contain any data on how frequently these products are purchased, what proportion of babies' and toddlers' diets are comprised by these foods, or if the presence/absence of a nutritional symbol influences consumer purchasing decisions. However, the discrepancy between nutrition claims and the nutritional quality of baby food products is of important relevance because parents are more likely to purchase products with a front-of-package nutrient claim, even if the content of that claim is not substantiated by information found in the nutrition information panel (14) . In the presence of manufacturer-issued symbols for good nutrition, whose criteria vary (and sometimes widely), consumers must be encouraged to take a more active role in reading the nutrition information panel to make accurate informed health choices when purchasing food.…”

The untapped potential of the gaming community: A narrative review. (Preprint)

“…They make videos promoting products and play video games which are live-streamed on the company's website, in order to attract the attention of the games audience by using the gamer as an advertisement [66]. Celebrities have been found to be effective mediums for advertisements of energy-dense and nutrientpoor food products, both for children [67] and adults [68]. This effect is thought to be due to celebrities conferring an implicit benefit, and by establishing positive associations with the brand, through the transference of qualities of physical appeal and likeability from themselves to the product [69,70].…”