Charlene Elliott

Assessing 'fun foods': nutritional content and analysis of supermarket foods targeted at children.

This article provides a nutritional profile of foods targeted specifically at children in the Canadian supermarket. Excluding confectionery, soft drinks and bakery items, 367 products were assessed for their nutritional composition. The article examines the relationship between ‘fun food’ images/messages, product claims and actual product nutrition. Among other findings, it concludes that approximately 89% of the products analysed could be classified as of poor nutritional quality owing to high levels of sugar, fat and/or sodium. Policy considerations need to be made in light of the fact that ‘fun food’ is a unique category that poses special challenges; as such, recommendations regarding food labelling and packaging are presented.

Food Branding and Young Children’s Taste Preferences: A Reassessment

ObjectivesThis study examines the effects of branding and packaging on young children’s taste preferences.MethodsPreschool children aged 3 to 5 (n=65) tasted five pairs of identical foods in packaging from McDonald’s and in matched packaging that was either plain, Starbucks-branded, or colourful (but unbranded). Children were asked if the foods tasted the same or if one tasted better.ResultsChildren preferred the taste of foods wrapped in decorative wrappings, relying more on aesthetics than on familiar branding when making their choices.ConclusionsThe findings suggest the need to explore questions beyond commercial advertising (and brand promotion) on television and other media platforms. More attention should be directed at the important role of packaging in directing children’s food preferences.RésuméObjectifsExaminer les effets de l’image de marque et des emballages sur les préférences gustatives des jeunes enfants.MéthodeDes enfants d’âge préscolaire de 3 à 5 ans (n=65) ont goûté à cinq paires d’aliments identiques placés dans des emballages de McDonald’s et dans des emballages assortis: neutres, de marque Starbucks ou colorés (mais sans marque). Nous avons demandé aux enfants si ces aliments goûtaient la même chose ou si l’un d’eux avait meilleur goût.RésultatsLes enfants ont préféré le goût des aliments dans des emballages décoratifs, se fiant davantage à l’esthétique qu’à la familiarité des marques pour faire leurs choix.ConclusionsCes constatations montrent qu’il faut explorer d’autres questions que la publicité commerciale (et la promotion de l’image de marque) à la télévision et sur d’autres plateformes médiatiques. Il faudrait accorder plus d’attention au rôle important des emballages dans l’orientation des préférences gustatives des enfants.

Packaging Health: Examining "Better-for-You" Foods Targeted at Children

Les préoccupations de nombreux consommateurs en ce qui a trait à la santé et à l’obésité ont conduit des entreprises à mettre sur le marché une gamme de produits présentés comme étant « meilleurs pour la santé ». Dans cet article, j’examine 354 produits vendus dans les supermarchés et qui ciblent les jeunes, et j’évalue leur qualité nutritionnelle et la façon de présenter différents aspects de certains produits dits « meilleurs pour la santé », en comparaison avec des produits « réguliers ». Résultat : si les produits dits « meilleurs pour la santé » offrent certains avantages du point de vue nutritionnel (en particulier en ce qui concerne les quantités de matières grasses et de sodium), le sucre est présent à des degrés élevés dans les deux types de produits. Je fais ensuite quelques remarques importantes sur l’« auréole santé » et l’aspect « amusant » que l’on associe à certains produits alimentaires. Enfin, je conclus que toutes ces données indiquent que les produits mis en marché pour les jeunes et présentés comme « meilleurs pour la santé » sont tout autant une affaire de marketing qu’une question de nutrition.

Measuring the Impact of Product Placement on Children Using Digital Brand Integration

Recent marketing literature has called for more research that focuses on the influence of new media on children and, specifically, the use of product placement. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of food and beverage product placements on children of different ages. Using an experimental approach, groups of children viewed the same television program, but with either healthy products or unhealthy brands digitally inserted. A detailed survey then measured aided and unaided recall and immediate choice behavior. In total, 225 children from two schools took part in the experiment. The results indicated strong recall for the products placed, especially for the unhealthy products, and particularly among older children. However, the placements had only a modest influence on immediate behavior, with regression analysis suggesting that the packaging was more significant in influencing choice. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Nutritional components and children's interpretations of packaged food

Recent policy recommendations encourage efforts to support childrens healthy dietary choices, particularly in light of concerns over the marketing of foods to children and the link between diet and noncommunicable disease. This study conducted focus groups with children to examine what is salient to them when identifying the health qualities of packaged foods. Twelve focus groups of 4–6 participants (divided by age and gender) were conducted with children in grades 1–6. When asked to consider how to make ‘healthy’ and ‘less healthy’ packaged food choices, children focused primarily on sugar, salt, fat, fibre, and calories. Sugar was deemed unhealthy across the grades, but was re-categorized as healthy in forms other than white sugar (e.g., honey, brown sugar). Fibre was designated as healthy. Sodium and fat signalled an unhealthy food for grades 1–2, but was deemed acceptable in ‘lower’ amounts for grades 3–6 children. Calories were interpreted as ‘less healthy’ when associated with fat and sugar, and ‘healthier’ when viewed as energy. Boys were more concerned with fat and calories compared to girls who did not favour any particular nutritional component. Although children may not be expected to use nutritional components to classify foods as ‘healthy’ or ‘less healthy’, and previous research demonstrates they are not developmentally ready to navigate such abstract concepts, this study shows that children nonetheless use nutritional components to support their packaged food choices. The research raises questions about how to help children make ‘healthy’ packaged food choices under current food labelling practices.

‘Big Food’ and ‘gamified’ products: promotion, packaging, and the promise of fun

The promise of ‘fun’ is an increasingly common strategy used by Big Food in the promotion of packaged products. Gamification, or ‘making it fun’, has been identified as a top consumer packaged goods trend for 2014, and is finding its way into the spectrum of packaged goods and target markets. Once solely the preserve of children’s fare, fun is now applied to ‘junk’ food, ‘healthy’ food, snack food, ‘adult’ food, and ‘kids’ food. The rise and implications of such marketing has yet to be explored, and this article draws from the critical literature in food studies, current food marketing campaigns, and primary research from the trade press to map and critique ‘fun’ in association with food promotion. I argue that the promise of fun – while positioned as a playful, edible ‘pause’ in a hectic world – works to occlude some significant health, attitudinal and policy considerations related to the industrial diet. The seemingly lightweight focus on fun as a driver in food promotion promises a more embodied level of engagement than does a focus on nutritionism. However, ‘fun’ can simultaneously work to reconfigure relationships with food, increase consumption, and distance processed foodstuffs from issues of nutrients, as well as the non-communicable diseases associated with excessive consumption of highly processed fare.

Eatertainment and the (Re)classification of Children's Foods

Abstract Ideas of fun and play have emerged as dominant characteristics in childrens packaged food marketing. This article examines both the expression and implications of “eatertainment” in childrens packaged food products, contrasting it with the theme of engagement that typifies the marketing of many adult foodstuffs. I detail how child-oriented packaged food both embodies and communicates (historical, culturally specific) ideas about childhood, and explore how the reclassification of childrens food into “fun food” brings with it a series of unintended consequences, which include commodification, the reinforcement of webs of consumption, and the encouragement of overeating.

Considering the Connoisseur: Probing the Language of Taste

This article provides a brief, exploratory probe into how theories of taste might be used to inform a very specific practice of taste-that of connoisseurship-in contemporary democratic culture. The focus is on the role of language in this practice, which takes centre stage as a means of both configuring taste and performing connoisseurship. The rise of specialty coffee and the popularization of wine are examined as two cases in which the language of the connoisseur plays a significant role. Résumé: Cet article fournit une brève description des façons dont les théories du gou

Knowledge needs and the ‘savvy’ child: teenager perspectives on banning food marketing to children

Abstract Food marketing to children is a powerful factor in the health of young people. In Canada, one proposed measure to protect young people is to ban all food and beverage marketing to children under age 13. Since policy initiatives should consider the voices of those directly impacted, we conducted focus groups with teenagers aged 12–14 – precisely those individuals who would be directly impacted by, or just over, the age threshold proposed. The majority of teenagers consulted were opposed to a ban on food marketing, framing food marketing as a way to meet their consumer needs. Such perspectives mirror the arguments made by the food industry, and suggest that teenagers’ self-identification as consumers trump questions of ethics or public health. Even though teenagers argue that marketing is often misleading, they do not view regulation as a solution – a view troubled by the fact that many of the teenagers underestimated their own vulnerability to marketing. The research points to the need for a more complex understanding of how food marketing messages are understood by teenagers, for a more robust media literacy education, and for the need to engage – not ignore – young people when it comes to issues of public health.

Differences in the nutritional content of baby and toddler foods with front-of-package nutrition claims issued by manufacturers v. governments/health organizations.

OBJECTIVE Nutritional information panels are required on all packaged food products in the USA, yet are perceived as difficult to use by consumers. Nutritional symbols have been developed by various groups to assist consumers in making healthier food purchases. Different nutritional criteria are used depending on the authorizing body of these symbols. The present study assesses the nutrient profile of baby and toddler foods in light of their accompanying nutritional symbols. DESIGN Kruskal-Wallis and χ 2 tests were used to assess differences in the nutritional content of products based on the presence and issuing body of nutritional symbols. SETTING Nine grocery, drug and department stores in Philadelphia, PA, USA. SUBJECTS Two hundred and forty packaged baby and toddler foods. RESULTS Products whose nutritional symbol was issued by government/health professionals contained significantly more Ca (P = 0·002), fibre (P = 0·001), protein (P = 0·005), vitamin A (P = 0·011), vitamin C (P < 0·001) and Zn (P < 0·001) and less sugar (P = 0·004) per serving than products without a nutritional symbol and products whose nutritional symbol was issued by the manufacturer. CONCLUSIONS Products with a nutritional symbol issued by government/health professionals were healthier than foods with nutritional symbols issued by the manufacturer directly and foods with no nutritional symbols.