Food Marketing as a Special Ingredient in Consumer Choices: The Main Insights from Existing Literature

Outcomes of sugar reduction policies, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Poor diets are the major cause of death and disease globally, driving high levels of obesity and noncommunicable diseases. Cheap, heavily marketed, ultra-processed, energy-dense and nutrient-poor food and drinks that are high in fat, sugar and salt play a major role. The high-sugar content of these products leads to consumption levels much higher than recommended. The World Health Organization recommends that sugar intake should be reduced to just 5% of energy intake by using fiscal policies and food and drink reformulation strategies. Over the previous decade, the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has implemented several policies aimed at reducing sugar intake. We compare the soft drinks industry levy and the sugar reduction programme, examining how differences in policy design and process may have influenced the outcomes. Success has been mixed: the mandatory levy achieved a reduction in total sugar sales of 34.3%, and the voluntary reduction programme only achieved a 3.5% reduction in sugar levels of key contributors to sugar intake (despite a target of 20%). Both policies can be improved to enhance their impact, for example, by increasing the levy and reducing the sugar content threshold in the soft drinks industry levy, and by setting more stringent subcategory specific targets in the sugar reduction programme. We also recommend that policy-makers should consider applying a similar levy to other discretionary products that are key contributors to sugar intake. Both approaches provide valuable learnings for future policy in the United Kingdom and globally.

Exposure and power of TV food advertising during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: a content analysis

BACKGROUND

With the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the Brazilian population has increased the time spent at home and watching television (TV). Since food advertising exposure is a key driver of food choices, this study described the content of food advertisements (ads) on Brazilian TV during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

This is an exploratory study. A total of 684 h of TV programming comprised of three free-to-air channels and two pay-per-view channels was recorded from 06 a.m. to 12 a.m. for eight non-consecutive days in June 2020. A content analysis of all the food-related ads was carried out. The data collection process followed INFORMAS Protocol for TV food advertising monitoring.

RESULTS

The sample was composed of 7,083 ads, 752 (10.6%) of which were food-related and 487 (6.9%) were promoting ultra-processed foods. The content analysis indicated seven thematic categories, all of them with reference to the COVID-19 pandemic: brand and product differentials (79.8%); visual and sound effects (70.2%); thematic campaigns (56.0%); digitization (22.9%); convenience (16.5%); economic benefits (11.9%); and commensality and social interaction (6.1%). Ads content varied according to the day of the week, the time of the day, the length of the ad, and the channel type.

CONCLUSIONS

The thematic of food advertising on Brazilian TV during the COVID-19 pandemic is aligned with the country's health crisis context and varied during the programming.

Generational Differences in Food Choices and Consumer Behaviors in the Context of Sustainable Development

(1) Background: This study examines diverse food choices and sustainable consumption behavior across four generations of Poles: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z. (2) Methods: The research employed an online survey with a quota sample of 1000 individuals, representing the Polish population in terms of gender, residence, and education (categorized into two groups). (3) Results: For Poles, the crucial factors in food selection were product quality (69.0%), price (68.6%), and information about the product's composition (41.0%). Older cohorts (Baby Boomers and Generation X) prioritized food quality, while younger generations (Generation Y and Generation Z) emphasized price. Statistically significant differences emerged between generations regarding the product's country of origin, with older generations emphasizing its importance more. The oldest group (Baby Boomers) considered ecological certification most important. As much as 85.9% of Poles checked product expiration dates while buying products, and 82.8% bought only as much as they needed. Baby Boomers most often exhibited these two behaviors and can be considered the most responsible among all generations. (4) Conclusions: This article highlights the importance of comprehensive sustainability efforts in the context of food choices. It takes into account the socio-cultural and historical circumstances of each generation that influence their consumer habits.

Assessing the interlinkage between biodiversity and diet through the Mediterranean diet case

The adoption of healthy and sustainable diets, and the transition to sustainable food systems is of principal importance in order to counteract the double burden of climate change and non-communicable diseases. The Mediterranean diet (MD) has been widely recognized as a biodiversity and healthy nutrition resource to support sustainable development and food security. This study explored biodiversity in terms of food plants species, subspecies, varieties and races, and also addressed food-plant diversity differences between the MD and western-type consumption patterns. It was funded by the EU BioValue Project, aiming to promote the integration of underutilized crops into the food value chains. Using a two-stage scheme, data were selected from MEDUSA and Euro+Med databases (including 449 species, 2,366 subspecies, varieties, and races). Furthermore, 12 countries from North Africa and Europe were classified in two groups according to their sub-regional attributes and their traditionally most prevalent dietary pattern (MD or western-type diets). Statistical analysis showed that the mean of the majorly cultivated food plants in the MD was significantly higher than its counterpart in the Western-diet. Furthermore, no statistical difference was detected in the averages of native food plants between the MD group and the Western diet group, implying that the higher diversity in food plants observed in the MD seems to be attributed to crop utilization rather than crop availability. Our findings indicated the interlinkage between biodiversity and prevailing dietary patterns, and further underlined that biodiversity could constitute a prerequisite for dietary diversity, and hence nutrition security. In addition, this study demonstrated that diets and nutrition should be approached in a broader way within the context of both agro-food and ecological systems.

Marketing techniques, health, and nutritional claims on processed foods and beverages before and after the implementation of mandatory front-of-package warning labels in Peru

In June 2019, mandatory front-of-package warning labels (FOPL) were implemented in Peru. The aim of the study was to describe changes in marketing strategies on packaging: marketing techniques (MT), health claims (HC), and nutritional claims (NC) on the packaging of products frequently consumed by children before and after the FOPL implementation. Product photos were taken pre- (March 2019) and post-implementation (March-October 2020) in three supermarkets in Lima, Peru. Following INFORMAS protocols and Peruvian Technical Norms, the presence of MT, HC, and NC was assessed on all package sides. Products were classified as "high-in" and "not high-in" based on the regulation threshold for critical nutrients. Differences in the proportion of products with each strategy in both periods were evaluated. Also, a subsample of products was matched according to the barcode and exact McNemar test was used to compare proportions of strategies pre/post-implementation. We included 883 and 1,035 products in pre- and post-implementation, respectively. In both periods, MT appeared on almost 70% of all products. The presence of HC increased significantly only for beverages (24.5-38.1%, p < 0.001). In both phases, NC were commonly used on beverages (>80%). Overall, the prevalence of "high-in" products using MT increased (73.6-82.1%, p = 0.007), while use of HC increased among "not high-in" products (32.9-41.6%, p < 0.001). There is a high frequency of MT on all products and NC on beverages. The increase in MT in "high-in" products may be an industry response to minimize the impact of the FOPL on food choices and sales. New regulatory aspects regarding labeling should be implemented to strengthen the current policy.

Factors affecting consumer attitudes to fungi-based protein: A pilot study

Meat substitutes using alternative proteins can facilitate sustainable diets without compromising animal welfare. The fungal protein, also called mycoprotein is the biomass that results from the fermentation of a filamentous fungus. This paper reports the results of a consumer acceptance study of fungal protein-based meat substitutes using a mixed-method design with a web-based survey and a series of semi-structured interviews amongst European participants. Based on the description provided in the survey, 56% of participants were not directly familiar with fungal proteins but they understood its potential societal benefits. The overall Food Technology Neophobia Score (FTNS) of the sample was moderate (M = 40.0, range = 19-62), with more neophilic participants (52.9%) than neophobic (47.1%). FTN was a significant but weak predictor of Perceived Benefits (PB) and Purchase Intentions (PI). Younger participants perceived fungal proteins more positively, and city-dwellers had higher PI than rural dwellers. Reducetarians were more likely to purchase fungal proteins, compared to unrestricted omnivores. Participants with lower acceptance of fungal proteins' association with mould had significantly lower PI than those who were comfortable with it. In turn, familiarity with fungal protein was positively associated with mould acceptance. The qualitative data suggested that the sensory attributes were the most important factor in the acceptance of meat substitutes. The participants also valued clean label products which were perceived as healthier. Familiarity with other products containing mould seemed to assuage concerns and drive acceptance of fungal protein. The findings suggest that the overall acceptance of fungal protein is still rather low. This may be attributed to the perceived low appeal and tastiness of available fungal protein products.

When Food Co-Branding Backfires: The Overexpectation Effect

While food research has paid considerable attention to the effect of brand names on brand evaluation, the role of co-branding strategies and hence simultaneous exposure to two different brand names is under-researched. Against this background, we investigated the overexpectation effect in the context of food co-branding. More specifically, we explored to what extent food co-branding can harm brand evaluations of the co-brand and the brand level of the partner. In doing so, we challenged the conventional wisdom that co-branding leads to higher brand evaluations than those of monobrands. Results from two online experiments confirmed the theoretical reasoning derived from adaptive learning models: combining two brands results in an overexpectation effect, which manifests in a decrease in levels of brand evaluation for the co-brand compared to the partnering brands before co-brand exposure. Brand strength and brand fit moderate this effect.

Are Local Dairy Products Better? Using Principal Component Analysis to Investigate Consumers' Perception towards Quality, Sustainability, and Market Availability

Consumers are increasingly aware of the benefits of local foods in terms of quality, sustainability, animal welfare, and safety. This research addresses two main questions: (i) is the perception towards sustainability aspects of local dairy products related to individuals' preferences for milk and cheese quality aspects? (ii) are these perceptions related to people's socio-demographic characteristics? For this purpose, a choice experiment was conducted online in Apulia (South-East Italy) involving a sample of 543 respondents. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to analyze the consumer opinion related to dairy products' quality attributes, sustainability, and availability on the market. From the PCA, four main components (accounting the 64.5% of the total explained variance) were defined, highlighting non-overlapping choice styles of consumers, distinguished by attitudes primarily based on quality attributes of dairy products rather than sustainability characteristics or perceived higher quality of local products. Furthermore, the Availability request component described the consumer need for higher availability and/or visibility of local dairy products on the market. The effect of gender, age, and educational status of individuals emerged as significantly important for the resulting component definitions. The obtained results clearly suggest the need to increase the efficiency of communication strategies concerning local dairy products, as well as local dairy products' availability and visibility on the markets.

Bibliographic Coupling Links: Alternative Approaches to Carrying Out Systematic Reviews about Renewable and Sustainable Energy

New technologies, specifically the internet, have over the last two decades increased the number of publications in the most diverse fields of science. Subjects related to renewable and sustainable energy are no exception. These frameworks have allowed the main insights produced by the scientific community through literature surveys to be highlighted. Nonetheless, considering the vast quantity of studies, systematic approaches have been proposed by the researchers to better organize and perform the literature review. Considering the subjectivity of some of these methodologies, the main objectives of this research are to conduct a systematic review about renewable and sustainable energy through more objective techniques, based on bibliometric analysis, to provide an alternative or to complement those already available within the literature. For this purpose, a “Biblio4Review” approach was proposed in order to perform systematic reviews about renewable and sustainable energy that may spread into other scientific fields. This methodology is based on bibliographic coupling links from the bibliometric analysis to identify the most relevant studies for the literature review. The results obtained highlight that with this approach it was possible to identify the studies with greater centrality in terms of references shared. In this way, they are among the most relevant documents for these topics. Specifically for the topic considered (renewable and sustainable energy) the main insights were referred to. In any case, the findings obtained show that there is a field for more interdisciplinary approaches.

Determinants of economic motivations for food choice: insights for the understanding of consumer behaviour

Food consumption involves several dimensions, being some of them directly associated with the consumers' characteristics. The interrelationships between these domains impact consumer behaviour for food choice and the consequent decisions for food consumption. In these frameworks, economic motivations are determinant. On the other hand, the scientific literature highlights that the economic-based stimuli to choose food is still underexplored. In this perspective, the objective of this study was to assess the main sociodemographic and anthropometric determinants of the economic motivations for food choice. For that, a questionnaire survey was carried out involving 11,919 respondents from 16 countries. A validated questionnaire was used, translated into the native languages in all participating countries, using a back-translation process. First, the information obtained was assessed through factor analysis to reduce the number of variables associated with the economic motivations and to identify indexes. After, and considering the indexes obtained as dependent variables, a classification and regression tree analysis was performed. As main insights, it is highlighted that the main determinants of the economic motivations are country of residence, age, gender, civil state, professional activity, educational level, living environment, responsibility for buying food, weight, height, body mass index, healthy diets and physical exercise practices. Additionally, the results also reveal that economic motivations may be associated with two indexes, one related to convenience attitudes and the other to quality concerns. Finally, the younger persons and the women are the social groups more concerned with healthy diets and food quality. In conclusion, this work confirmed that food choice is to a high extent influenced by several sociodemographic and behavioural factors.

The Value of Consistency: Portfolio Labeling Strategies and Impact on Winery Brand Equity

The reported research examines the impact of product portfolio labeling strategies on brand reputation and equity. A netnographic approach allowed to observe winery portfolio labeling approaches and create a typology of winery labeling strategies. Expert evaluation served to assess the dependent variable brand equity by deploying a regression analysis. For the observed wine industry, being part of the food industry, creating consistent and recognizable brands has a direct relevance for reducing (sustainability-related) food information overload and thereby building sustainable brand equity. The results uncover the relative importance of each of the six identified labeling strategies as well as their impact on reputation and brand equity creation. The results point to the need to establish a consistent, strategically founded product communication. Such an approach, with a positive effect on reputation building can serve to build sustainable brand equity. “Stuck in the middle”-type strategies apparently diminish winery brand equity exploitation. The findings contribute to the knowledge on food labels in product communication strategies and their impact on organizational brand equity, thereby having high relevance for the implementation of environmental certification initiatives in an organizational context. The article deploys a novel research approach in an under-researched area to provide new insights for further research as well as implications for practice.