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Amanda Nishimwe Professor Caruso English 1102-024 February 28, 2013 Intertextual Annotated Bibs Paper: Main Inquiry Question: Can food marketing dictate our eating behavior? http://prezi.com/gwqbey-qy-ad/food-marketing-effect-on-eating-behavior/?kw=view-gwqbeyqy-ad&rc=ref-31185881

To understand the impact of marketing on our eating habits, we must start by identifying some aspects of our eating behaviors. Eating habits is the way a person or group eats, considered in terms of what types of food are eaten, in what quantities, and when. So why do we eat what we eat? The main reason of eating is hunger and satiety. However, what we eat influenced by various factors which can be sociocultural, economic, convenience, religious, and sometimes even geographical. The psychological factor is also very important because it varies from one individual to another yet the result is often similar. Finally, this information is used by consumer and by companies to influence our eating habits in small or major ways. Therefore, this question will be treated in three parts viewed as what are the main factors that influence our eating behavior? How marketing use those factors? And how consumers can also recognize those factors and use them to eat healthier. Several factors can influence what we eat and how much we eat, once we know those factor we can understand our eat habits. The social situation can influence what we eat, indeed when we are in a social situation we do not pay attention on what we eat. For example, when invited to

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dinner we often wont control how many drink we get are how many part of cheesecake we accept. Economic situation can be an important factor of eating behavior because it is always tempting to go for the easy way and buy cheaper fast food. Ethnic background and culture are also very influent in eat behavior because they are the old habits and the family way of eating we grew up used to. Indeed, some cultures are healthier than other but we can always find a way of reducing the fat, salt, sugar used in those family recipes. Emotional status can also influence, for example depending on how sad or happy you are you can eat more or less food. On one side, food choice does not depend only on health, according to a survey of Consumer Attitudes to Food, Nutrition and Health found that the top five influence on food choice were quality/freshness (74%), price (43%), taste (38), healthiness(32%) and family attitude (29%). But these data vary from country to country and from the participant of the survey. Indeed, the food choice can depend on gender for example women tend to consider health and nutrition fact whereas men would consider mostly the taste and the price of the food. On the other side, food choice is influenced by the psychological status of the consumer. Most of our food choice is based on the perception of the product. Our mindset on a product can affect how the body reacts on that product. In a test conducted by the American Psychological Association, they took a 380-calories milkshake and presented it first as 680-calories Indulgent shake and secondly as a 140-calories Sensi shake. People tasted the two milkshake a different occasion and the researchers measured their level of Ghrelin. Ghrelin is a hormone that transmits hunger messages between the stomach and the brain; in the absence of food the level of ghrelin increase and decrease when their food in the stomach. Even though it was the same milkshake, the level of Ghrelin decreased considerably if the participant drank the indulgent shake which indicated that they felt more satiety. Whereas, after drinking the Sensi shake there was little

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effect on the level of Ghrelin which suggested that the participant felt much less satiety.

Figure 1-Indulgent-Sensi shakes chart evolution Even if the communication between the stomach and the brain is not totally direct, this study shows that they could be an influence from our mindset on the physiological response about what we eat. Even if it is not exactly define, this is correlation between our perception and the decision we make on and what we eat or what we think taste good or not. According to a study conducted the Dr. Wansink and Dr. Van Ittersum, the color of the container affect the perception of the quantity of the food. The study is based on the Delbeouf illusion and show an optical illusion between two circles of the same size placed side by side. The black circle on the left is surrounded by another circle and it seems larger than the right one even if they are the same. In the study, they handed randomly red and white plates and asked them to get spaghettis. Like in the Delbeouf

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illusion the people with the red plate felt like there was less spaghetti on their plate and as a result they got 22% more than those with white plates. Marketers use all these data to attract more consumers by targeting a certain group in their advertisements. First the packages are design to attract a specific category of consumer for each package design but the most expensive are the homemade and the traditional or family type. The companies even organize contests where consumers can design their own package and thus make them feel more engage with the product. Companies also use marketing systems that targets one gender as a contrast to the other. For example, Dr Peppers Ten that only focus on men, it humorously appears too strong for women. Healthy advertising is also very used because it is becoming more and more important to make healthy choices for the consumers. Companies campaigns to be associate with good causes keep increase; like the The Heart Truth campaign with the introduction of Diet Coke with the big red heart even though sodas are not the healthiest choice. Labeling is also sometimes used to mislead consumer into thinking that the product are healthier by using the words like natural or whole grain. Reading the composition list on the label can be efficient and help determine if they use white flour for example. Labeling can also help increase the amount of vitamins and nutrients consumed; while finding if there is any unneeded fat or calories in the product and therefore helps eat healthier by reducing these calories. Advertising to children and young people is another important part of the marketing system. According to a study from the Yale Rudd Center for food, children see an average of 13 unhealthy food commercials a day and teens see 16 ads per day mostly on televisions, cellphone and computers. In contracts, they only see a commercial for healthy food or water only once a week. The youth is mostly targeted because on one hand, children are the one who are going to

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pressure their parents to buy those products. One the other hand, teens and young people are the one who buy unhealthy food because they often dont know enough information on the product or simply want cheaper and faster food. Unhealthy eating can have serious consequences on every days life. Certainly, there are people who live a whole without really monitor what they eat; however the effects of bad eating habits can shortly affect and thus turning into major health problems. A low level can result in a poor brain function; according to a study published "The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology" a rat fed exclusively with fat food ran 35% less distance that other rats fed lower fat food. An unbalanced diet can result in an Insulin Resistance which is a condition where the Insulin cannot manage the level of sugar in the body and therefore lead to a weight gain. An unhealthy diet can a results other short term discomforts like indigestion, heartburn, poor sleeping or mood problems. To the question: can food marketing dictate our eating behavior? We can say that marketing surely influence influences our food choice. However, eating habits depend on various factors such as the social environment, the economic status, the culture or family habits are in contact with. The psychology and perception of the consumer can have an impact on physiological aspect like taste or satiety. The companies use the data one perception to personalize their marketing strategy in order to target certain social groups. However, consumer can also use the data provided as a source of knowledge in order to recognize which food are healthy and which one are not and thus maintain an healthy and balance diet. Now, the conversation could go toward knowing the making effect can be regulated, who can regulate them and how to regulate them.