why should you be aware of food marketing

Importance of Food Marketing

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Why is it important to be aware of marketing?

It is important to be aware of marketing because it can influence your food choices. Food marketing is advertising that promotes the sale of certain food or food products. Many foods and drinks that are marketed can contribute too much sodium, sugars or saturated fat to our eating patterns.

How can I be aware of the marketing of food?

Being aware of food marketing is a food skill that can help you: Use these tips to help you make an informed choice: Use food labels. Stick to your grocery list and avoid impulse buys.

What is the role of marketing in food?

Food marketing is advertising that promotes the sale of certain food or food products. Many foods and drinks that are marketed can contribute too much sodium, sugars or saturated fat to our eating patterns. Food marketing can take on many forms, such as: branding. sponsorship of events.

What are the goals of food advertising and marketing?

The principal goal of food advertising and marketing aimed at children is to influence brand awareness, brand preference, brand loyalty, and food purchases among youth. A wide range of food advertising techniques and channels are used to reach children and adolescents to foster brand awareness to encourage product sales. [18]

What are the benefits of being aware of food marketing?

Why is it important to be aware of marketing?

What is food marketing?

How does food marketing impact you?

How does food marketing affect your food choices?

Is it hard to know if you are being advertised on social media?

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Why is it important to make informed decisions about your food?

Making a choice about the food we consume is paramount these days. Informed choice will help us to prevent food allergies and sensitivities. This can b achieved by planning snacks, including fruits and vegetables in our meals.

What are the effects of food marketing?

Researchers have described a “cascade of effects” in which exposure to unhealthy food marketing influences children's brand awareness and preferences, and consequent purchases and consumption. Exposure to unhealthy food advertisements increases food intake in children.

How does food advertising influence us?

Food advertising is aimed to reach a wide range of people and age-levels through various sources and platforms. Advertisements can easily sway one's food choices, especially adolescents and younger children. Food companies spend a lot of time and money to convince people to buy their product.

How do you explain food marketing?

Food Marketing is defined as a series of marketing events that take place between a food company and a consumer. Food companies frequently use generic marketing tactics and strategies that are used in the marketing of other types of products and services.

How can we avoid food marketing?

Tips for Preventing Health Food Scams:Eat foods in as natural of a form as possible. ... Choose foods with the least number of ingredients. ... Avoid foods with MSG, added sugars or sodium-based ingredients. ... Be careful about eating foods with too much saturated fat. ... Beware that food preservation alters nutritional value.

What are the effects of food advertising and marketing towards youth?

Food marketing has a direct, powerful impact on young people's food preferences. It affects eating behaviors and influences diet, weight, and health in many negative ways. Watching food ads makes children eat more.

How does fast food advertising affect youth?

Her research has shown that fast food ads activate highly sensitive and still-developing reward pathways in teens' brains. Additionally, foods high in fat, sugar, refined carbohydrates, salt and other flavor enhancers have been shown to have addictive qualities that can increase cravings.

What are some ways you can be more aware of the influences on your food choices?

Physical determinants such as access, education, skills (e.g. cooking) and time. Social determinants such as culture, family, peers and meal patterns. Psychological determinants such as mood, stress and guilt. Attitudes, beliefs and knowledge about food.

Why is it important to read and interpret food labels?

It shows you some key nutrients that impact your health. You can use the label to support your personal dietary needs – look for foods that contain more of the nutrients you want to get more of and less of the nutrients you may want to limit. Nutrients to get less of: Saturated Fat, Sodium, and Added Sugars.

How do you market a food product effectively?

6 Steps to Bring Your Food Product to MarketWork With a Food Business Consultant. ... Get to Know Your Target Customer. ... Hone Your Packaging. ... Adhere to Government Food Product Regulations. ... Implement Marketing Strategies. ... Stick to Your Branding.

How do customers promote food products?

However, by appealing to their appetite, interests or wallet, you can get customers to try new products so they purchase more in the future.Offer Free Samples. ... Showcase Items on Social Media. ... Hold a Cooking Demonstration/Contest. ... Offer Different Coupons. ... Visit or Hold Events. ... Advertise Healthy Aspects. ... Use a Loyalty Program.

What is the target market for food?

Your target market is the group of consumers – in this case, diners – whom you will aim to attract. They are people who are most likely to buy what you're selling. The target customer of your restaurant is a specific segment of the larger dining market.

How does advertising and the media affect my food choices?

One study found exposure to influencers promoting unhealthy foods on social media increased children's intake of those foods. Relationships can be formed between influencers and their followers, establishing a certain amount of trust, says Dr Boyland, who conducted the research.

How does the media affect our food choices?

The studies revealed two major findings: adolescents were more likely to recall unhealthy food and celebrity influence was a common component of the advertisements. This review suggests that food and beverage companies use social media for marketing their products by targeting the adolescent population.

Does food advertising encourage healthy or unhealthy eating?

Adults consumed more of both healthy and unhealthy snack foods following exposure to snack food advertising compared to the other conditions.

What are common strategies used to market foods?

Here Are 11 Highly Effective Marketing Strategies For A Food & Beverage BusinessBrand Positioning Your Restaurant. ... Packaging Your Product. ... Make A Statement With Your USP. ... Blogging. ... Email Marketing. ... Social Media Marketing. ... Hosting Events at Your Restaurants. ... Listing Your Business in Online Directories or Websites.More items...•

The Factors That Influence Our Food Choices | Eufic

Given the priority for population dietary change there is a need for a greater understanding of the determinants that affect food choice. This review examines the major influences on food choice with a focus on those that are amenable to change and discusses some successful interventions.

How does marketing affect consumers?

Marketing professionals have an impact on consumers’ quality of life by shaping either positive or negative eating habits. The market is oversaturated with products that are harmful to our health in more ways than one. Many of these products are flying off the shelves due to sticky advertising.

Why should marketers provide insights to the brands they represent?

With consumers becoming more educated about wellness and more equipped in sharing information about products in question, marketers should provide insights to the brands they represent to positively shape product development and craft more transparent marketing communications. We can do much better and can help brands do less harm and more good, contribute to wellness, establish long-term brand credibility and encourage consumer trust.

Why is supporting niche brands important?

Customers who make educated choices, carefully read labels, make decisions to spend more on high-quality products and learn how to make delicious, healthy meals are the ones driving change by supporting niche brands. Startups have to work hard to win over customers by using high-quality ingredients and speaking from the heart about the products they bring to life. Food is medicine. By supporting smaller brands whose recipes and formulations are kind to our gut, we are investing in wellness for ourselves and society at large.

How can brands bring good for you products to market?

Brands that bring good-for-you products to market by investing in high-quality ingredients should take advantage of social media and influencer marketing. Social channels provide the opportunity to make niche products viral, deliver educational content, create advocacy and collaborate with micro-influencers to raise visibility.

What is the Kind Snacks slogan?

Its Kind Bars packaging includes its trademarked “Ingredients you can see and pronounce” slogan. Kind Bars has become one of the biggest brands in the snack bar category, and Mars recently bought a minority stake in the company.

What is the importance of marketing in food?

Food marketing takes many forms and can involve building relationships with customers, raising brand awareness, developing new products, promoting them through advertising, and even paying grocery stores for prominent shelf space, all with the goal of promoting sales.

Why is adding value important for food manufacturers?

This is partly because they are often made with raw materials, such as grains, that cost the manufacturer little and are versatile enough to be processed into many different high-value products that appeal to consumer preferences for salt, sugar, fat, and convenience . 4 These highly profitable products tend to get the most marketing attention.

What is the misconception that food decisions are consciously and deliberately made?

“A basic misconception has stymied our response to the obesity epidemic: the belief that food-related decisions are consciously and deliberately made. Our reluctance to interfere with or regulate the food environment is a direct consequence of the belief that people's food choices reflect their true desires. … The reality is that food choices are often automatic and made without full conscious awareness.” – Deborah Cohen and Susan Babey 1

Why is it bad to advertise to kids?

Most children under 8 years of age are developmentally unable to understand that the purpose of commercials is to persuade people to buy products. 21 Staff at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a government organization responsible for protecting consumers, stated in 1981 that it is unfair and deceptive to advertise to children younger than 6 years, 22 but a ban was never implemented. 23

How do food companies reach youth?

Food and beverage companies also reach youth through schools. Soft drink companies, for example, in the 1990s began paying schools for the exclusive rights to sell their products in vending machines and at school events. 14 By 2005, an estimated 80 percent of public high schools had “pouring rights” contracts with soft drink companies. 19 Food brands can also be found displayed on sports uniforms, school supplies, and even educational materials. 14

Why are children targeted?

Children are frequently targeted because they sometimes purchase food with their own money, and they influence what their parents buy. In 2006, U.S. food and beverage companies spent an estimated $10 billion marketing to youth. 17.

How much did food and beverage companies spend on advertising in 2006?

In 2006, U.S. food and beverage companies spent an estimated $10 billion marketing to youth. 17. The typical American child saw an estimated 4,787 televised advertisements for food and beverages in 2013—more than 13 per day.

1. Refreshing-Looking Imagery

Food companies often make beverages, especially soft drinks or sports drinks like Gatorade, look enticing by adding water imagery on their packaging. For example, designs of water droplets, the ocean, or the sun on many sugary drinks lure us in because we subconsciously associate these images with thirst-quenching properties.

2. Catchy Phrases

This one seems like a no-brainer, but I'll bet everyone has had an annoyingly catchy commercial jingle stuck in their heads after watching an ad on television. Every time we see or hear a food advertisement on TV or in print, those words impress upon us, at least to a certain extent.

3. Green-Washing

If you've been to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or any grocery store espousing the "farmer's market" aesthetic, you've likely encountered culprits of green-washing.

4. Color Matters

Ever wonder why a certain food packaging is always one color, or why the color may change over time? Food companies invest a significant amount of research into finding out what colors attract consumers and what colors deter them.

5. Consider What Isn't Being Said

This one is more implicit, and involves reading between the lines of food packaging. Companies selectively present positive information on food packages to attract us to products, but leave out negative information that may deter us from the purchase, or worse, harm our health in the long run.

6. Not Everything is Organic (Even if it Says it is)

Most of us want to buy organic these days if we can afford it, and the health benefits may prove worthwhile in the long run. However, prices of organic foods are typically higher, with organic milk costing 60 to 109% more than non-organic varieties.

7. You May Be Your Worst Enemy

This last one involves an invisible enemy most of us aren't even aware of — ourselves. In buying food and in our daily lives, we often choose to see and believe what we want to believe, rather than the objective truth.

What is food marketing strategy?

Creating a food marketing strategy could be seen as a similar process to creating a menu. It’s a starting point from which to build on, ensuring each item in your strategy is prepared and served to the highest standard, leaving customers hungry for more.

Why do food brands offer seasonal discounts?

Many food brands offer customers seasonal discounts as a way of promoting their menu throughout the year. Consider how you could stand out from competition with a quirky, creative special offer.

Why do people use Instagram stories?

Instagram users love using the Stories and Reels feature as it offers a more engaging way to share content. If you’re including Instagram Stories in your food marketing strategy, they work best when you have a business announcement, want to tease an upcoming food product or promote an event.

How can food companies improve their marketing activities?

Food companies can improve the impact of their marketing activities by posting attractive, interesting pictures of food on Instagram. It enables companies to promote their food, events and favorable reviews of their products to a wide audience of potential customers. 7. Hosting events.

How to market food?

1. Positioning your brand. The first step in properly positioning your food brand is to identify your target market. You then have to make them aware of the amazing taste and high quality of your products.

How effective is blogging for food?

An engaging online blog is a very effective marketing tool. It can give food businesses an online presence with an SEO strategy that gives people an opportunity to get to know more about what’s special about the company. The blog can provide insight into authentic ethnic cooking, share special recipes or answer questions about using special spices or any other topics of interest. SEO services from Digital Logic say that blogs are excellent, versatile, easy to use, effective marketing tools. Integrating the blog with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and posts on other social media platforms will multiply and enhance its impact as part of your marketing strategy. Consider featuring professional food bloggers. This can increase your brand’s following, create a more engaging online presence and supercharge your marketing efforts.

What is email marketing?

An email marketing program is a cost-effective marketing tool. It’s quick, easy and free to send out an email blast to thousands of consumers to make them aware of special events, send them discount coupons or announce new products. Using email marketing is a great way to keep customers engaged.

Why do food businesses list their products on websites?

Listing your products and menus on marketing websites is an effective, inexpensive way to expose more potential customers to your food business. There are also numerous smartphone apps and online directories on which food related businesses can list their name, location, and specialties. Many of them charge a small commission for allowing restaurant and other eateries to sell food products on their platform. This is a great way to introduce thousands of new consumers to the unique food products your food business has to offer.

How to draw more customers to your restaurant?

To draw more customers to your eatery, host seasonal and holiday events there and offer special packages and menus. Hosting food festivals at your restaurant can raise awareness of where your business is located and the wide range of food your offer. This type of marketing event can be held year round and help to make your business a familiar and popular foodie destination. This can enhance brand awareness and improve your bottom line.

How does social media affect marketing?

Being active on social media can have a significant impact on online marketing. Several major companies developed reputations among young consumers for being cool and relatable because of their presence on Reddit, Foursquare and other social media platforms. Food companies can improve the impact of their marketing activities by posting attractive, interesting pictures of food on Instagram. It enables companies to promote their food, events and favorable reviews of their products to a wide audience of potential customers.

What is food marketing?

Food marketing is an advertisement that promotes the sale of certain foods or food products. Many foods marketed can contribute too much salt, sugar, or saturated fat to our eating habits.

How food marketing can influence your healthy food choices?

Food promotion is all around us. You’re likely to receive a constant stream of changing and often conflicting food messages. This can make it difficult to make healthy food choices.

How does advertising influence food choices?

We don’t want to admit that advertising influences our healthy food choices. But we both consciously and subconsciously believe it does so. To a large extent, food manufacturers also determine our portion sizes by supplying food in set sizes. This might be too large for what we need. And We know for sure that brands are paying a lot of attention to the aspirational lifestyle connected to their product. For, e.g., Diet Coke ads usually show a slim, flirtatious, funny, attractive woman. This approach easily catches the attention of a hunky ma n. Today, we would like to show you how advertising influences healthy food choices. You will also know how we can become more in control of what we want.

How to determine if a food product is healthy?

Decide whether a food product is healthy by using food labeling rather than depending on marketing messages alone

What are some examples of marketing strategies used in food advertising?

Common marketing strategies used in food advertising can include: Health claims or nutrient claims (Example: “Calcium helps to build strong bones.”) Bright and eye-catching colors and photography. Memorable slogans, songs, and jingles, or catchphrases. Free or exclusive prizes.

How to learn more about food?

Learn as a whole family. Spending time together as a whole family by cooking, grocery shopping, farmers’ market visits, menu planning, or reading the Nutrition Facts label are good ways to learn more about food and become educated consumers.

Do cereal ads affect children?

The same pattern was observed in meals immediately after exposure to food ads and years later. Family cartoon characters used in on-air or in front of package promotions have also affected cereal choice in young children. Two different studies have shown that children enjoy the taste of food advertised by popular celebrities. The key factor seems to have some scientific basis.

What is the most important source of food advertising?

The largest single source of media messages about food to children, especially younger children, is television . Over 75% of US food manufacturers' advertising budgets and 95% of US fast-food restaurant budgets are allocated to television . [26] Television viewing starts early, US children between the ages of 2 and 4 years view 2 hours of television daily; this increases to over 3.5 hours near the end of grade school, then drops off to about 2.75 hours in later adolescence. [33] US children in low-income families and minority youth tend to watch more television . [33,34] Thus they have greater exposure to food ads.

How does food advertising affect youth?

While multiple factors influence eating behaviors and food choices of youth, one potent force is food advertising. [16] Today's youth live in a media-saturated environment. Over the past 10 years, US children and adolescents have increasingly been targeted with intensive and aggressive forms of food marketing and advertising practices through a range of channels. [17-22] Marketers are interested in children and adolescents as consumers because they spend billions of their own dollars annually, influence how billions more are spent through household food purchases, and are future adult consumers. [18,23] It is estimated that US adolescents spend $140 billion a year. Children under 12 years of age spend another $25 billion, but may influence another $200 billion of spending per year. [23,24]

Why are schools used as advertising?

Reasons for the increase in in-school marketing to children and adolescents include the desire to increase sales and generate product loyalty, the ability to reach large numbers of children and adolescents in a contained setting, and the financial vulnerability of schools due to chronic funding shortages. [19,44] In-school commercial activities related to food and beverages include 1) product sales; 2) direct advertising; 3) indirect advertising; and 4) market research with students. [45,46] Examples of these four types of marketing practices used in schools are shown in Table ​Table22.

How do food ads work in schools?

Food advertisements can also be delivered through in-school media. About 12,000 schools or about 38% of middle and high schools in the US are connected to Channel One, the 12-minute current events program that carries two minutes of commercials including advertisements for soft drinks and high fat snack foods. [46] Schools receive free video equipment in exchange for mandatory showing of the program in classrooms. Brand and Greenberg evaluated the effects of Channel One in-school advertising on high school students' purchasing attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. About 70% of the 45 food commercials shown on Channel One during one month were for food products including fast foods, soft drinks, chips and candy. In schools where Channel One was viewed, students had more positive attitudes about the advertised products, and were more likely to report intentions to purchase these products compared to students who did not have Channel One in their classrooms. However, students who watched Channel One did not report more frequent purchases of the advertised products compared with students in schools that did not show Channel One. [51]

Why is marketing important for young children?

The heavy marketing directed towards youth, especially young children, appears to be driven largely by the desire to develop and build brand awareness/recognition, brand preference and brand loyalty. Marketers believe that brand preference begins before purchase behavior does. [28] Brand preference in children appears to be related to two major factors: 1) children's positive experiences with a brand, and 2) parents liking that brand. [28] Thus, marketers are intensifying their efforts to develop brand relationships with young consumers, beginning when they are toddlers. [29] Marketers know that toddlers and preschool children have considerable purchase influence and can successfully negotiate purchases through what marketers term the "nag factor" or "pester power". [28] A child's first request for a product occurs at about 24 months of age and 75% of the time this request occurs in a supermarket. The most requested first in-store request is breakfast cereal (47%), followed by snacks and beverages (30%) and toys (21%). Requests are often for the brand name product. [28] Isler, et al, examined the location, types, and frequency of products that children ages 3-11 requested of their mothers over 30 days. Food accounted for over half (54%) of total requests made by children and included snack/dessert foods (24%), candy (17%), cereal (7%), fast foods (4%), and fruit and vegetables (3%). [30] Almost two-thirds (65%) of all cereal requests were for presweetened cereals. Preschool children made more requests than the older elementary school children. Parents honored children's requests for food about 50% of the time, soft drinks (60%), cookies (50%), and candy (45%). [28] These findings show that food advertisers spend large amounts of money targeting children, in an attempt to build brand loyalty and to persuade them to desire a particular food product, starting when they are toddlers.

How much money was spent on food advertising in 1999?

Advertising expenditures for US food products were $7.3 billion in 1999. [27] In 1997, the US advertising expenditures for various foods were: breakfast cereals – $792 million; candy and gum – $765 million; soft drinks – $549 million; and snacks – $330 million. Total expenditure for confectionery and snacks was $1 billion. [26] In contrast, during the same year, the US Department of Agriculture spent $333 million on nutrition education, evaluation, and demonstrations. [26] Advertising budgets for specific brands of foods, beverages, and fast food restaurants are also revealing (Table ​(Table1).1). It is unclear how much money is spent on food advertising specifically directed at children and adolescents, but estimates are available for overall youth-oriented advertising in the US. It is estimated that over $1 billion is spent on media advertising to children, mostly on television. [28] In addition, over $4.5 billion is spent on youth-targeted promotions such as premiums, sampling, coupons, contests, and sweepstakes. About $2 billion is spent on youth-targeted public relations, such as broadcast and print publicity, event marketing, and school relations. In addition, roughly $3 billion is spent on packaging especially designed for children. [28]

Why is nutrition important in childhood?

Nutrition during childhood and adolescence is essential for growth and development, health and well-being. [1,2] Further, eating behaviors established during childhood track into adulthood and contribute to long-term health and chronic disease risk. [3,4] Numerous studies have consistently documented that dietary intake patterns of American children and adolescents are poor and do not meet national dietary goals. [5-8] In addition, US food consumption trend data show a shift over the past few decades. Children and adolescents are eating more food away from home, drinking more soft drinks, and snacking more frequently. [9-11] American children now obtain over 50% of their calories from fat or added sugar (32% and 20%, respectively). [12]

Why is it important to have date marking on food labels?

Date marking on food labels lets you know for how long a product is safe to eat. This is important to avoid getting sick from expired food.

Why are food labels so easy to ignore?

Food labels are easy to ignore as you reach out for your favorite product or snack. They are just one of the many seemingly boring pieces of writing vying for your attention. Yet, information is power and this power can help you take control of your own health.

What is the role of FAO in food labeling?

FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) are working together through the Codex Alimentarius Commission to set the global standards for food labelling. Countries must abide by these standards when labelling food, especially those that will be sold on the global market.

Why are labels important?

They are something we take as a given, but they are enormously important to our health and well-being. Food labels guarantee that the food is what we think it is and that products are as nutritious as we think they are. Labels teach us about ingredients and nutrients.

What foods are most likely to cause allergic reactions?

The most common allergenic foods include peanuts, soybeans, milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, wheat and tree nuts. If you did not know the ingredients in a product, you could mistakenly eat something that would cause an allergy attack, some of which are very severe. Food labels let you know what to avoid.

How much food waste is linked to date marking?

In the EU, approximately 10 percent of food that is wasted is linked to date marking. Educating consumers and supply chain stakeholders can help to prevent this food waste and to keep date marking true to its purpose of keeping food safe to eat. 6.

How many people die from eating contaminated food?

2. Keep you safe – Every year, more than 600 million people get sick and 420 000 die as a result of eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals. Labels provide warnings and important information about the ways to use a product (for example, storage and cooking instructions), which are necessary for keeping food safe.

What are the benefits of being aware of food marketing?

Benefits of being aware of food marketing. Being aware of food marketing is a food skill that can help you: recognize when foods are being marketed to you. decide whether a food item is healthy by using food labels rather than relying on marketing messages alone. teach those who may be more vulnerable to food marketing, ...

Why is it important to be aware of marketing?

It is important to be aware of marketing because it can influence your food choices.

What is food marketing?

Food marketing is advertising that promotes the sale of certain food or food products. Many foods and drinks that are marketed can contribute too much sodium, sugars or saturated fat to our eating patterns. Food marketing can take on many forms, such as:

How does food marketing impact you?

Food marketing can impact you in many different ways. It is designed to: create food trends. encourage you to: buy certain foods or drinks. buy foods in order to get promotional items such as: loyalty points. tickets to movies or sports events. coupons for future food purchases.

How does food marketing affect your food choices?

Food marketing is all around us. You likely receive a constant stream of changing and often conflicting messages about food. This can make it hard to make healthy food choices. Food marketing can impact you in many different ways. It is designed to: create food trends.

Is it hard to know if you are being advertised on social media?

Newer forms of marketing like sponsored posts on social media can be more difficult to recognize. This can make it hard to know when you are being advertised to.

Background

See more on foodsystemprimer.org

Added Value

New Products

Marketing to Children

Food Labeling

Resources

References