The content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products through the lens of the heuristic-systematic model

Gugliucci, Vanessa; Machín, Leandro; Alcaire, Florencia; Otterbring, Tobias; León, Carolina de; Natero, Virginia; Ares, Gastón

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2022.106393

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Taken together, the results of the present work suggest that Instagram posts promoting ultra-processed products tend to rely on heuristic processing by including content not related to the advertised products or their specific benefits (Gugliucci et al, 2023;Harris et al, 2009b;Otterbring, 2021b;Petty and Cacioppo, 1986;Wästlund et al, 2015). Therefore, food marketers seemingly seek to attract adolescents by generating associations between the products and their age group through the inclusion of graphical and textual elements they identify with, such as graphic design, adolescent language, references to adolescents and young adults, and memes.…”

Section: Content Of Instagram Posts Targeting Adolescentsmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…The present study had an exploratory design based on cross-sectional content analysis. It reanalyzed the data reported in a recent study analyzing the content of owned Instagram EJM 58,2 posts featuring ultra-processed products (Gugliucci et al, 2023). In the following section, a brief description of the data collection procedure is provided, followed by a detailed description of the identification of posts targeted at adolescents.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the following section, a brief description of the data collection procedure is provided, followed by a detailed description of the identification of posts targeted at adolescents. Full details are available in Gugliucci et al (2023).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The food industry has long been at the forefront of social media marketing (Montgomery et al , 2011). Several studies have shown that social media is frequently used to promote ultra-processed products with excessive content of nutrients associated with noncommunicable diseases (Antúnez et al , 2021; Bleakley et al , 2022; Buchanan et al , 2018b; Elliott et al , 2022; Freeman et al , 2014; Gugliucci et al , 2023; Horta et al , 2018; Karageuzián et al , 2021; Théodore et al , 2021; Vassallo et al , 2018). Ultra-processed products can be defined as “formulations of ingredients, mostly of exclusive industrial use, that result from a series of industrial processes” (Monteiro et al , 2019, p. 937).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Colorful candy, teen vibes and cool memes: prevalence and content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products targeted at adolescents

Ares

Alcaire

Gugliucci

et al. 2023

EJM

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Purpose The current research aimed to examine the prevalence of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products targeted at adolescents in Uruguay and hence investigate the frequency of such posts among a vulnerable consumer segment in a country that cannot be classified as WEIRD (i.e. Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic). Design/methodology/approach The study relied on a cross-sectional content analysis. A total of 2,014 Instagram posts promoting ultraprocessed products or brands commercializing such products, generated by 118 Instagram accounts between August 15th, 2020, and February 15th, 2021, were analyzed. Nine indicators of food marketing targeted at adolescents were selected to identify posts targeted at this age segment. Inductive coding was used to describe the content of the posts. Descriptive statistics and generalized linear models were used to analyze the data. Findings In total, 17.6% of the posts were identified as targeted at adolescents. Graphic design and adolescent language were the most prevalent indicators of marketing targeted at adolescents, followed by explicit references to adolescents or young adults and memes. Posts identified as targeted at adolescents mainly promoted snacks and discretionary foods. Differences in the content of posts identified as targeted and not targeted at adolescents were observed. Research limitations/implications The analysis was restricted to one social media platform in one country during a limited period of time, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other media platforms, samples and settings. Social implications Results stress the need to implement digital food marketing regulations to reduce exposure of adolescents to the deleterious effects of stemming from marketing of unhealthy foods and provide empirical evidence to inform their development. Originality/value The study breaks new ground by analyzing the prevalence and exploring the characteristics and content of Instagram posts promoting ultra-processed products to adolescents in an under-researched geographic area of the world.

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Section: Content Of Instagram Posts Targeting Adolescentsmentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Colorful candy, teen vibes and cool memes: prevalence and content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products targeted at adolescents

Ares

Alcaire

Gugliucci

et al. 2023

EJM

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“…Ads promoting specific ultra-processed products or brands of such products were used as stimuli. They were drawn from a database of 2,104 ads generated by Instagram accounts of Uruguayan brands or branches of international companies between 15 August 2020, and 15 February 2021 (26) . In a previous study, all the ads in the database had been classified regarding whether they were primarily targeted at adolescents or not from an adult perspective using a series of a priori indicators: references to adolescents or young adults; language or expressions used by adolescents; graphic design; memes; references to movies, TV or music; celebrities; references to videogames; references to high school or university and merchandising (19) .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is this advertisement designed to appeal to you? Adolescents’ views about Instagram advertisements promoting ultra-processed products

Ares,

Antúnez,

Alcaire

et al. 2024

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: Examine the key elements that characterize social media advertisements targeted at adolescents by asking adolescents which features of Instagram ads promoting ultra-processed products make them designed to appeal to adolescents. Design: Instagram ads promoting ultra-processed products and brands were selected from a database in which ads had been classified regarding whether they were primarily targeted at adolescents from an adult perspective. Adolescents completed a sorting task in small groups and were requested to reach a consensus through discussions and sticky notes regarding whether 60 ads were designed to appeal to them. The sorting task was analyzed using content analysis based on inductive coding. Setting: One private secondary school and two after-school clubs. Participants: Convenience sample of 105 Uruguayan adolescents aged 11 to 17 years. Results: Ten categories were identified regarding the reasons for sorting ads as (not) designed to appeal to adolescents: product type, graphic design, explicit references to age groups, language, activities or themes, memes, celebrities, characters, promotions, and novelty. Product type emerged as a key element, with adolescents perceiving ads as designed to appeal to them simply because they promoted specific products. Conclusions: This research contributes to the validation of criteria defined in previous studies and can be used for the development of tools to monitor the prevalence and power of adolescent-targeted digital marketing. However, the importance attributed to type of product suggests that regulations should not exclusively focus on exposure to digital marketing specifically targeted at adolescents but also on exposure to marketing in general.

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Exposure effects to unfamiliar food advertisements on YouTube: A randomized controlled trial among adolescents

Ares,

Alcaire,

Antúnez

et al. 2023

Food Quality and Preference

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The content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products through the lens of the heuristic-systematic model

Cited by 4 publications

References 68 publications

Colorful candy, teen vibes and cool memes: prevalence and content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products targeted at adolescents

Colorful candy, teen vibes and cool memes: prevalence and content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products targeted at adolescents

Is this advertisement designed to appeal to you? Adolescents’ views about Instagram advertisements promoting ultra-processed products

Exposure effects to unfamiliar food advertisements on YouTube: A randomized controlled trial among adolescents

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