What the food manufacturers DONT tell you
When you are confronted by an advert for food, how many questions do you ask? Do you wonder whether it is tasty? Or do you wonder whether it is affordable? Or do you wonder whether the advert is simply a pile of misinformation and you are being sold unhealthy rubbish?
Advertising is a very peculiar medium, when you look at it in detail. As an advertiser you buy a limited amount of space or time in a magazine, radio broadcast or TV broadcast, then try and use that time to persuade people to buy your product. The success or failure of the product will depend on whether the impression given by the advert leads someone to have positive feelings about the product. In a nut shell, the advert must persuade them that they want it. If you sort through adverts, the vast majority are for luxury items – I do not mean expensive, but luxury in the sense that they are superfluous to your day to day survival. They make your life more fun, easier, give you something to boast about, or take your lifestyle choices in a different direction.
Food advertising is different. We HAVE to eat, it is part of our design. So food adverts dont have to persuade you to eat, just what to eat.
If you go back 30 years or so advertisers claimed more or less what they likes about products. Most famously cigarette manufacturers actually promoted the health benefits of smoking, even thought their own research showed that cigarettes are healthy. To this day, through their promotional arm “Forest” they try and play down the ill health aspects of smoking. In Africa, till very recently, they were still using the completely duplicitous forms of advertising that had been banned over here years ago.
This has not been confined to cigarette manufacturers. An American hot chocolate product used to have the words “its good for you” in its jingle even though it was stuffed full of sugar, and we were told that a Double Diamond Works Wonders. All of these misleading claims (or complete lies in many cases) were only removed through legislation or forced voluntary codes. And even then, advertisers will argue with the ASA (Advertising standards authority) and its various clearance bodies about how much they can actually get away with.
In 30 years of working in the advertising industry I have NEVER seen a company voluntarily come clean about their product without being forced to. A great example is Trans Fats. These harmful fats from hydrogenated fats help preserve food longer and shorten peoples lives. Although this has been scientifically been understood for many years, it is only with the pressure of the media and public protest that manufacturers have reduced or removed Trans Fats. MacDonald’s has spent years promising to replace them. Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut still serve these up to you by the spoon full.
This current campaign is also vitally important. It is highlighting the way advertisers will sell a product based on some healthy attribute while not telling you it also is stuffed full or sugar, perhaps.
Their press release which summarizes the report is quite enlightening. and demonstrates the 5 ways that companies mislead us:
Quality claims to hide true nutritional content. For example Kellogg’s Coco Pops Cereal and Milk bars claim to be the ‘best choice for a lunchbox treat’ and use images of grapes and a wholemeal bread sandwich on their packaging to promote the idea of a healthy snack. In reality it contains a massive 41g of sugar per 100g and uses adult guideline daily amounts which could further mislead parents.
Selective nutritional claimsto distract parents from the full picture. For example Dairylea packaging says it has ‘no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives added’, but just one Dairylea bite contains nearly a third of a child’s daily recommended maximum saturated fat intake.
Selective health claims also deceive parents. A Nestle cereal and Nesquik promotion in Sainsburys magazine claimed their cereals and magic straws can ‘help kids to maintain strong, healthy bones’ and give them ‘get up and go in the morning’. It does not mention the 58.9g of sugar that lurks in 100g of Nestle Strawberry magic straws.
Emotional insight to empathise with mothers about some of the difficulties in raising a family. In the advert for their ‘Deluxe Boneless Box’, KFC uses the common problem of mums getting their kids to help with their chores. The advert shows the children volunteering to tidy up after eating a KFC meal.
Imageryto entice and mislead parents. The Burger King Aberdeen Angus Mini-Burgers with cheese advert depicts a strong motherly figure declaring ‘the lunch battle is over’. The energetic mum, covered in cooking utensils, conveys an image of a healthy home cooked meal. In reality each BK Angus Mini Burger with cheese contains more than a fifth of a child’s daily recommended maximum saturated fat intake.
Of course, the manufacturers have responded robustly:
“This is a Dogdy Dossier”
Julian Hunt form the Food and Drink Federation goes on to point out that “99% of advertising in all media is fully compliant with the rules now in place.”
Yes it is Julian. Which just demonstrates how you can follow rules and still be intentionally misleading.
30 years in the advertising industry and what is the most common question I get when I point out to an advertiser that “you can’t say that.”
“How can we get away with it?”
If the British Heart Foundation can help stop them “getting away with it” then they are doing as a great service. Freedom should mean the freedom to live your life without having rubbish pushed down your throat by unscrupulous advertisers. We have got our world all wrong.
Related posts:
- Junk Food Advertising
- The Need to Protect Traditional Food
- Slick Fast Food
- Is a Salad a Healthy Option?
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