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Mikayla Markins

Professor Cassel

English 1201.B53

12 April 2019

Online Casebook

My essay is addressing the question: “Does food marketing and labeling effect American
obesity?” By digging deeper into this topic, I hope to become more educated on the regulations
that are in place concerning labeling of all food products and how they are presented to the
consumer. I would also like to find which regulations and company strategies are making healthy
decisions more accessible for the general public and which are not only harmful but potentially
deceitful.

Annotated Bibliography

Arsenault, Joanne E. "Can nutrition labeling affect obesity?" Choices: The Magazine of Food,

Farm and Resource Issues, July 2010, p. 9+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A354272469/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=66e

673b7. Accessed 6 Apr. 2019.

American obesity has risen dramatically in the last twenty years, rating in at 68% of

adults in 2010. The Nutrition and Labeling Education Act was implemented in 1994 making it

mandatory for all packaged foods to be labeled. The hope was that this would clear up labeling

confusion and help consumers make healthier choices. In 2010, the Health Care and Education

Affordability Reconciliation Act made calorie labeling in restaurants and vending machines

mandatory. Although it’s reported that only about 48% of consumers use food labels, studies

have shown that those who are educated about the effects of certain diet-disease relationships use
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labels to avoid intake of those ingredients and in turn successfully make better dietary choices.

Although there are studies of success, we cannot pinpoint consumer behavior to any legislation.

There is also too few of numbers from these studies to make definitive conclusions. One may

argue that the consumers have been exposed to the labeling information since 1994 and obesity

is still rising or that many other factors influence obesity in general. Regardless, the consumer

has the right to know what they are purchasing and consuming so food labeling will continue to

be an important factor in this industry.

The article’s purpose is to educate the public about food labeling legislation and analyzes

the effects on the population’s health benefits. The audience would be the general public.This

was written in 2010, when the mandate for calorie information to be available in restaurants went

into effect.

The source and author of this piece are reliable because this is an academic piece from

Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints.

This article will help me support the positive effects of providing nutritional labeling on

both packaged foods and restaurants. It will also help me challenge it’s effects on American

obesity due to the fact that obesity is still rising.

Bonsmann, Stefan Storcksdieck genannt, and Josephine M. Wills. “Nutrition Labeling to

Prevent Obesity: Reviewing the Evidence from Europe.” SpringerLink, Current Science Inc., 26

June 2012, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13679-012-0020-0?LI=true#Sec8.

Consumers will report that they want to see nutrition information labeled so they can

select good choices, but in reality, they ignore them most of the time. This is driven by the fact

that price, taste, convenience, and shopping habits outweigh the public’s concern with nutrition.
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It can also be pegged to a lack of motivation. Although labeling is now mandated, it provides not

only opportunity for the consumer to make healthier choices but also for more opportunity for

monitoring labeling effects. What seems to be the issue is that the general public is not educated

or motivated enough and aware of the importance of taking the time to read the label in order to

make better food choices.

The article was written to report the conclusions of a case study performed in Europe.It

was written in 2012 and is therefore on the line of relevant and outdated.

The source is credible due to the publisher being accredited to publishing international

journals of science, technology and medicine.

This journal will aid the counterargument in my paper so that it can be well rounded,

addressing all reports and perspectives.

Chandon, Pierre, and Brian Wansink. “Does Food Marketing Need to Make Us Fat? A

Review and Solutions.” Nutrition Reviews, Blackwell Publishing Inc, Oct. 2012,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3495296/.

Marketing of food and drink to the U.S. public directly influences how they buy, how

much of and what kind of foods they consume. Company marketing teams struggle to find a

balance in pleasing concerns of public health organizations, their shareholders and various

customers desires. Things such as long and short term price reductions, advertising and

promotion, labeling and branding, and changing how food stimulates a customer, can all be

linked back to unhealthy purchasing/eating habits leading to obesity.

The writer's purpose is to review and provide solutions so that a win win situation can

occur between the public health organizations, the general public and the food companies. The

audience is extended to everyone as marketing affects anyone who purchases food. This was
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written during the time when obesity began to rise and food marketing was pointed out as the

cause. People went as far to say that food industry was the new tobacco industry and this gives

the time period of the article a prominent sway of negative light for the food marketers

The author and source are credible due to the fact that this is a government publication

from the National Center of Biotechnology Information.

This is incredibly relevant to my paper because it addresses all types of food marketing

and provided studies to think their effects to the rise in obesity.

Draper, Alizon K, et al. “Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling: Are Multiple Formats a

Problem for Consumers?” European Journal of Public Health, Oxford University Press, June

2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22140250.

The variety of different formats for nutrition labels confused and inhibits consumers from

using nutrition labels at all.This study from the UK and found that when the difficulty of making

product comparisons by label rose, the consumer chose to ignore it entirely. In order for front of

package labels to help people make healthy decisions, we need to regulate the nutrition label

format to one across the board.

The purpose was to analyze and report the findings of a study conducted shortly before

this report came out. At the time this information was highly debated and it influenced the writer

to post a solution.

The report comes from the US National Library of Medicine, a government publication,

and is therefore credible.

This is relevant to my paper because it will help me address the difficulty of reading and

understanding food labels and how it affects the choices of the consumer.
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"No ban on food ads for children." Washington Times [Washington, DC], 15 July 2005,

p. C09. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A134069480/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=15e0f51

6. Accessed 12 Apr. 2019.

Government regulations do not plan on changing the current marketing strategies of food

companies even though they are heavily targeting children. These companies are developing

things such as “advergaming” to continue advertising unhealthy choices to the modern child.

Some companies believe it should be the parent’s responsibility to help the child make healthy

choices, not the food companies advertising. Over the years even the products advertised to

children have changed from toys, games and cereal to fast food and sweetened drinks.

The purpose was to report the current status of the advertising issue with children and

unhealthy foods during the time of a seminar on childhood obesity and food marketing.

The writer is credible due to the fact that the publisher is well known, Washington Times,

and the credible site Opposing Viewpoints put it in their database.

This is relevant to my topic in the terms of marketing unhealthy food to children. It will

support the fact that marketing is primarily food and drink contributing to obesity and challenge

the role of parents in the food-obesity relationship.

Ravensbergen, Eva A H, et al. “Healthy or Unhealthy on Sale? A Cross-Sectional Study

on the Proportion of Healthy and Unhealthy Foods Promoted through Flyer Advertising by

Supermarkets in the Netherlands.” BMC Public Health, BioMed Central, 6 May 2015,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25943988.
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During a study conducted in the Netherlands in 2015, it was found that 70% of

promotions in a supermarket flyer were “unhealthy” choices. Although the price discount was

higher for healthy options, a significantly higher number of unhealthy products were purchased.

Unhealthy foods are more frequently advertised in supermarkets and consumers had to purchase

a larger quantity of unhealthy products to receive the promotional discount.

The purpose of this article is to report the findings of a study conducted on supermarket

promotions. It was written in 2015 which is a time when the public was aware of the rise of

obesity and the effectiveness of promotional tactics.

It was published on a government site in the US National Library of Medicine and is

incredibly credible.

I can use this article in my paper to address marketing form the side of a supermarket

flyer. It does show how the promotion influenced the public to buy larger quantities and poor

quality when it comes to healthiness.

Viera, Anthony J, et al. “Effect of Calories-Only vs Physical Activity Calorie

Expenditure Labeling on Lunch Calories Purchased in Worksite Cafeterias.” BMC Public

Health, BioMed Central, 23 Jan. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30674291.

In a study conducted to see if the calorie intake per meal was influenced by calorie only

labeling or PACE labeling, it was found that both labels did influence the consumer to decrease

the total calories in their meal but only by less than 40.4 calories. There was no significant

difference between the types of labels.

This was reported to the general public as a case study for more information as to

whether or not the PACE label is really more effective.

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It was found on the US National Library of Medicine so it was credible.

This study will help aid my counterargument. It is suggesting that the label itself did not

influence a significant chance in choices of food consumed.