High on Attractiveness, Low on Nutrition: An Over-Time Comparison of Advertising Food Products on Israeli Television

Linguistic Delight Promotes Eating Right: Figurative Language Increases Perceived Enjoyment and Encourages Healthier Food Choices

The link between poor diet and poor health is well-known. Nevertheless, 90% of Americans are not meeting current dietary guidelines, avoiding nutrient dense foods like vegetables, and opting for high-calorie foods. One of the reasons for this behavior is that healthy options are often considered less enjoyable, compared with less healthy options. Addressing this issue, the current work tests the effectiveness of a novel approach to encourage consumption of healthier options. We explore the effectiveness of using figurative language (e.g., rhyme, metaphor) in naming food items on preference for these items. Research shows that figurative language induces pleasure and perceived enjoyment. Relying on this research, we propose that naming food figuratively will increase anticipated enjoyment with that food, as well as preference for that food. We tested this prediction in a large-scale field experiment at a university dining hall. We found that giving vegetable dishes figurative names (Tree of Life) significantly increased preference for those dishes, compared with literal names (Steamed Broccoli). A follow-up online experiment provided additional evidence in support of this assertion, demonstrating a preference for low-calorie menu options when they were named figuratively, and higher anticipated enjoyment with these options. The findings support the use of figurative language in naming healthy food dishes to influence food choice. The results also provide a psychological explanation for the effectiveness of figurative language in health communication.

Measuring the Power of Food Marketing to Children: a Review of Recent Literature

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This scoping review examines literature from the past 5 years (June 2014 to June 2019) across three databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, and Scopus) to detail how the persuasive power of child-targeted food marketing content is addressed and evaluated in current research, to document trends and gaps in research, and to identify opportunities for future focus.

RECENT FINDINGS

Eighty relevant studies were identified, with varied approaches related to examining food marketing techniques to children (i.e., experimental, survey, meta-analyses, mixed methods, content analyses, focus groups). Few studies specifically defined power, and studies differed in terms of techniques examined. Spokes-characters were the predominant marketing technique measured; television was the platform most analyzed; and dominant messages focused on health/nutrition, taste appeals, and appeals to fun/pleasure. Mapping the current landscape when it comes to the power of food marketing to children reveals concrete details about particular platforms, methods, and strategies, as well as opportunities for future research-particularly with respect to definitions and techniques monitored, digital platforms, qualitative research, and tracking changes in targeted marketing techniques over time.

The Role of Food Advertising in Adolescents' Nutritional Health Socialization

Adolescents are heavily exposed to food advertising in their daily lives. Food ads tend to juxtapose unhealthy food products with overly thin models who promote these foods. This paradoxical presentation of food and body raises important questions about adolescents' perceptions of food ads and the body, as part of the larger realm of nutritional health. The study sheds light on adolescents' nutritional health socialization by exploring the role of food advertising as it intersects with other socialization agents, namely parents and peers. Adolescent's perceptions of and reactions to food ads, and the food products and models in these ads, are examined using the media practice model as the theoretical framework. In-depth interviews were conducted with 82 adolescents in middle- and high-school, taking into consideration their development, heightened vulnerability to messages about the body and appearances, and their lived experiences. The study's findings suggest that adolescents, though skeptical of ads, internalize the mediated thin ideal and expect models in ads to be thin, beautiful, and famous. Parents emerged as positive role models for nutritional health whereas peers are more paradoxical, emphasizing the importance of exercising along with a socially-oriented consumption of junk food. Socialization messages from parents, peers, and the media interact in shaping adolescents' reactions to food ads. Only minimal gender differences were found in adolescents' reactions to food ads and their approach to nutritional health. Mostly, female models are expected to meet more stringent standards of thinness and beauty than male models, especially among female adolescents.

30+ years of media analysis of relevance to chronic disease: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Chronic, non-communicable diseases are a significant public health priority, requiring action at individual, community and population levels, and public and political will for such action. Exposure to media, including news, entertainment, and advertising media, is likely to influence both individual behaviours, and attitudes towards preventive actions at the population level. In recent years there has been a proliferation of research exploring how chronic diseases and their risk factors are portrayed across various forms of media. This scoping review aims to map the literature in this area to identify key themes, gaps, and opportunities for future research in this area.

METHODS

We searched three databases (Medline, PsycINFO and Global Health) in July 2016 and identified 499 original research articles meeting inclusion criteria: original research article, published in English, focusing on media representations of chronic disease (including how issues are framed in media, impact or effect of media representations, and factors that influence media representations). We extracted key data from included articles and examined the health topics, media channels and methods of included studies, and synthesised key themes across studies.

RESULTS

Our findings show that research on media portrayals of chronic disease increased substantially between 1985 and 2016. Smoking and nutrition were the most frequent health topics, and television and print were the most common forms of media examined, although, as expected, research on online and social media channels has increased in recent years. The majority of studies focused on the amount and type of media coverage, including how issues are framed, typically using content analysis approaches. In comparison, there was much less research on the influences on and consequences of media coverage related to chronic disease, suggesting an important direction for future work.

CONCLUSIONS

The results highlight key themes across media research of relevance to chronic disease. More in-depth syntheses of studies within the identified themes will allow us to draw out the key patterns and learnings across the literature.