Fast food, ads, and taste in a Russian child’s mind

Abstract

Research demonstrates that brands can influence children's food preferences and potentially contribute to unhealthy consumption patterns. This article extends this line of research by investigating the complex and interacting effects of food brand marketing on experienced taste. The empirical field in a remote Russian town enabled the assessment of branding effects when entering a newly established market. Examining the combination of various advertisement features with emotional brand elicitation, we derive hypotheses about the interplay of brands and advertisement components linked to the perceived taste of a fast food meal. In Novosibirsk, Russia, 778 children and adolescents aged 10-18 years were exposed to fast food advertisements with real and imaginary brand logos and varying advertising claims. The advertisements consisted of a warning, an exaggerated credence claim, or both. A subsequently offered fast food meal-a portion of French fries-was experimentally varied and prepared to be either healthier but less tasty and unsalted, or less healthy but tastier and salted. The findings verify strong and positive brand effects on children's taste satisfaction. Warnings in advertisements "worked" only for novel fast food brands by negatively affecting taste satisfaction, but increased taste satisfaction when applied in advertisements for established brands. Single credence claims did not improve the taste experience, but counteracted the negative effects of warnings for novel brands. Finally, the established brand influenced taste satisfaction positively when the fries were saltier. The findings reveal various opportunities for fast food marketing to artificially create taste satisfaction for potentially unhealthy food. Public health strategies that focus on advertising claim restrictions should be reconsidered in the context of possible evasion strategies of the food industry and counter-effects of warnings among strong fast food brands.

Research on unhealthy food and beverages advertising targeting children: Systematic literature review and directions for future research

“…ATC has emerged as a research priority of multiple disciplines, such as paediatric research (Gearhardt and Brownell, 2013), marketing and advertising (Effertz et al, 2019), law and policy (Kunkel et al, 2014), psychology (Coates et al, 2019) and business ethics (Lee and Nguyen, 2013). ATC research provides empirical evidence to support the correlation between exposure to ATC through the different media and food preferences of children (Borzekowski and Pires, 2018); however, the causal link between food ATC and childhood obesity is still debatable (Handsley et al, 2014).…”

“…The culture orientation is critical in developing the perceptual and behavioural response of consumers towards advertising messages because it denotes their motivational mechanisms (Berger, 2015). More studies are required to obtain a complete view of competitive landscapes and forecast developments of global F&B markets (Effertz et al, 2019).…”

“…A wide range of appeals have been used to promote F&B through ATC, including adventure, fear, guilt, humour, love, sorrow, anger and so forth. Taste was the prominent rational appeal in ATC, followed by happiness and fun to promote F&B and high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) foods (Effertz et al, 2019;Greenberg et al, 2009;Lynn and Zolkepli, 2019). Fantasy was admired by youth targeted for alcohol brand promotions (Padon et al, 2018); additionally, positive attitudes towards advertisements were found when perceived manipulative intent was low and vice versa (Rose et al, 2012).…”

Purchasing Intentions toward Fast Food: The Mediating Role of Consumer Attitudes toward Fast Food

“…us, they look to each other for pleasure, feedback, and unique experiences. Often people experiment with a novel type of food and wish to try it in specific situations [10].…”

Das Ausmaß von Kindermarketing ungesunder Lebensmittel in TV und Internet in Deutschland

“…HFSS-Lebensmittel) ist ein omnipräsentes Phänomen in vielen Hocheinkommensländern und begünstigt neben anderen Faktoren die Entstehung von Adipositas bei Kindern [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Neben spontanen Konsumwünschen, verschlechtertem Ernährungswissen und langfristig auf HFSS-Lebensmittel ausgerichteten Präferenzen [1] führt das kontinuierliche Kindermarketing ebenfalls zur Verinnerlichung von Markenimages, die beim Kind das Geschmackserlebnis von HFSS-Lebensmitteln positiv beeinflussen [8,9] und damit den Verzehr von HFSS-Produkten weiter begünstigen. Die WHO hat bereits 2004 mit ihrem "WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health" und zuletzt mit dem Nutrient Profile Model ein Kategorisierungssystem geschaffen, um Kindermarketing für ungesunde Lebensmittel einzuschränken [10,11].…”