My personal interests in health and fitness combined with my academic studies in Mass Communications prompted me to investigate the intersection of the two subjects. The below Introduction was extracted from my Honours Thesis (Communications Studies Department) written in 2010 at UCLA. To view the complete thesis, please use link below.
What do Women Eat? A Comparative Content Analysis of Food Groups and Advertising Claims Appearing in Food Advertisements found in Popular Magazines for Women
Food is one of the essential sources required to sustain life. Food nourishes bodies and provides humans with energy that enables movement and other bodily functions. Since the industrial revolution, technological advances have allowed for increased availability of food. Over the years, modern science has discovered various techniques to preserve food, produce packaged processed food, and improve flavors of food. However, in addition to the increased convenience and abundance of large varieties of foods, long term consequences of overindulgence and its associated negative health impacts have become progressively more prevalent in today’s society.
As consumers face endless decisions in their everyday lives, they are influenced by many external sources. Not only do friends, family, and the environment affect people’s choices of food, activities, and behaviors, the mass media also plays a dominant role in consumers’ decision making process. The mass media bombards consumers with endless messages about what is good, what is bad, what is healthy, what is not, and inevitably affects consumers’ decision about what to consume. As the incidence of diet-related health problems continue to rise, nutrition labeling and health claims contribute greatly to consumer’s purchasing decisions (Drichoutis, Lazaridia, & Nayga, 2006). A review of existing research on consumers’ use of nutritional labeling, revealed that nutritional labels on food products influence purchasing decisions because consumers want to avoid harmful nutrients, and thus use labels to make judgments and form perceptions about various products (Drichoutis et al., 2006). While some studies have shown that use of nutritional labels affect dietary patterns, leading to healthier food choices and reduced intake of unhealthy products (Drichoutis et al., 2006), recent studies have also indicated consumers’ misuse of nutritional labels and advertised health claims (Wansink & Chandon, 2007). Consumers experience informational overload as a result of the overwhelming exposure to various advertisements. In order to make sense of all the information regarding health and nutrition, consumers adopt simplifying strategies to make food choices easier (Rozin, Ashmore & Markwith, 1996).
Meanwhile, advertisers must adapt to consumer’s needs and preferences for healthier food alternatives. In attempting to appeal to various audiences, advertisers use different strategies and appeals to promote food products. When there are 30 different varieties of breakfast cereals to choose from at the grocery store, knowledge of nutrition and risk-preventing substances are useful to help consumers make each choice. Consumers acquire such knowledge through various outlets, including the mass media. Since the primary food-shopper in the majority of American household are female, it is especially important to understand what advertising appeals are used to attract female shoppers. Thus, the present study aims to survey popular leisure magazines enjoyed by female audiences to determine the nature and extend of food products advertisements and associated claims used to appeal to female consumers. Analysis of advertising appeals and frequently promoted food products will promote understanding of underlying factors that contribute to the current global health issues.