{"id":10446,"date":"2024-08-21T15:06:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T08:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10446"},"modified":"2024-08-21T15:06:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T08:06:25","slug":"are-food-ads-making-us-obese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10446","title":{"rendered":"Are Food Ads Making Us Obese?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>We all like to think we make important life decisions, like what to eat, consciously and rationally, but if that were the case, we wouldn\u2019t be in the midst of an obesity epidemic. <\/p>\n<p>The opening words of the Institute of Medicine\u2019s report on the potential threat posed by food ads were: \u201cMarketing <a href=\"https:\/\/nap.nationalacademies.org\/catalog\/11514\/food-marketing-to-children-and-youth-threat-or-opportunity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">works<\/a>.\u201d Certainly, there <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21219166\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is<\/a> a \u201clarge number of well-conducted randomized experiments\u201d I could go through with you that \u201chave shown that exposure to marketing\u2014especially, but not only, advertising\u2014changes people\u2019s eating behavior. Marketing causes people to choose to eat more.\u201d But, what do you need to know beyond the fact that the industry <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/10968581\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spends<\/a> tens of billions of dollars a year on it? To get people to drink its brown sugar water, do you think Coca-Cola would spend a penny more than it thought it had to? It\u2019s like when my medical colleagues accept \u201cdrug lunches\u201d from pharmaceutical representatives and take offense that I would suggest it might affect their prescribing practices. Do they really think drug companies are in the business of giving away free money for nothing? They wouldn\u2019t do it if it didn\u2019t work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">To give you a sense of marketing\u2019s insidious nature, let me share an interesting piece of research published in the world\u2019s leading scientific journal: \u201cIn-Store Music <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/36484\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Affects<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> Product Choice\u201d documented an experiment in which French accordion music or German Bierkeller music was played on alternate days in the wine section of a grocery store. As you can see below and at 1:27 in my video <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-the-role-of-marketing-and-food-advertisements-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Role of Food Advertisements in the Obesity Epidemic<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">, on the days the French music <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/36484\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">played<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> in the background, people were three times more likely to buy French wine, and on German music days, shoppers were about three times more likely to buy German wine. And it wasn\u2019t a difference of just a few percent; it was a complete three-fold reversal. Despite the dramatic effect, when shoppers were approached afterward, the vast majority of them denied the music had influence on their choice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108546\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-27-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Most of our day-to-day behavior does not appear to be <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18586908\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dictated<\/a> by careful, considered deliberations, even if we\u2019d like to think that were the case. Rather, we tend to make more automatic, impulsive decisions triggered by unconscious cues or habitual patterns, especially when we are \u201cunder stress, tired, or preoccupied. This unconscious part of our brain is estimated to function and guide our behaviors at least 95% of the time.\u201d This is the arena where marketing manipulations do most of their dirty work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The part of our brain that governs conscious awareness may only be able to process about 50 bits of information per second, which is roughly equivalent to a short tweet. Our entire cognitive capacity, on the other hand, is estimated to process more than 10 million bits per second. Because we\u2019re only able to purposefully process a limited amount of information at a time, if we\u2019re distracted or otherwise unable to concentrate, our decisions can become even more impulsive. An elegant illustration of this \u201ccognitive overload\u201d effect was <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Heart-and-Mind-in-Conflict%3A-The-Interplay-of-Affect-Shiv-Fedorikhin\/161e3e7b0c5d218b589e6a529883b7cec22a900d?p2df\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">provided<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> from an experiment involving fruit salad and chocolate cake. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Before calls could be made at the touch of a button or the sound of our voice, the seven-digit span of phone numbers in the United States was <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/13310704\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">based<\/a> in part on the longest sequence most people can recall on the fly. We only seem to be able to hold about seven chunks of information (plus or minus two) in our immediate short-term memory. The study\u2019s setup: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Heart-and-Mind-in-Conflict%3A-The-Interplay-of-Affect-Shiv-Fedorikhin\/161e3e7b0c5d218b589e6a529883b7cec22a900d?p2df\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Randomize<\/a> people to memorize either a seven-digit number or a two-digit number to be recalled in another room down the hall. On the way, offer them the choice of a fruit salad or a piece of chocolate cake. Memorizing a two-digit number is easy and presumably takes few cognitive resources. As you can see in the graph below and at 3:52 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-the-role-of-marketing-and-food-advertisements-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, under the two-digit condition, most study participants <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Heart-and-Mind-in-Conflict%3A-The-Interplay-of-Affect-Shiv-Fedorikhin\/161e3e7b0c5d218b589e6a529883b7cec22a900d?p2df\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">chose<\/a> fruit salad. Faced with the same decision, most of those trying to keep seven digits in their heads just went for the cake.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108548\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/3-52-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This can play out in the real world by <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24721289\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">potentiating<\/a> the effect of advertising. Have people watch a TV show with commercials for unhealthy snacks, and, no surprise, they eat more unhealthy snacks compared to those exposed to non-food ads. Or maybe that is a surprise. We all like to think we\u2019re in control and not so easily manipulated. The kicker, though, is that we may be even more susceptible the less we pay attention. Randomize people to the same two-digit or seven-digit memorization task during the TV show, and the snack-attack effect was magnified among those who were more preoccupied. How many of us have the TV on in the background or multi-task during commercial breaks? Research suggests that may make us even more impressionable to the subversion of our better judgment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">There\u2019s an irony in all of this. Calls for restrictions on marketing are often resisted by invoking the banner of freedom. What does that even mean in this context, when research shows how easily our free choices can be influenced without our conscious control? A senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation even went as far as to <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18586908\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suggest<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> that, given the dire health consequences of our unhealthy eating habits, \u201cthe marketing techniques of which we are unaware should be considered in the same light as the invisible carcinogens and toxins in the air and water that can poison us without our awareness.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Given the role marketing can play even when we least suspect it, what is the role of personal responsibility in the obesity epidemic? That\u2019s the subject of my next video.<\/p>\n<p>We are winding down this series on obesity, with three videos remaining:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\u00a0<\/strong>If you missed any of the previous videos, see the related posts below.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_social_bottom_trigger\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><script>\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n            if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n            n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n            t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n            s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '1582627921973608');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all like to think we make important life decisions, like what to eat, consciously and rationally, but if that were the case, we wouldn\u2019t be in the midst of an obesity epidemic. The opening words of the Institute of Medicine\u2019s report on the potential threat posed by food ads were: \u201cMarketing works.\u201d Certainly, there &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}