{"id":10450,"date":"2024-08-21T15:40:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T08:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10450"},"modified":"2024-08-21T15:40:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T08:40:06","slug":"marketing-takes-off-and-obesity-soars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10450","title":{"rendered":"Marketing Takes Off and Obesity Soars\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>The unprecedented rise in the power, scope, and sophistication of food marketing starting around 1980 aligns well with the blastoff slope of the obesity epidemic. <\/p>\n<p>In the 1970s, the U.S. government went from just <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/22834044\/\">subsidizing<\/a> some of the worst foods to paying companies to make more of them: \u201cCongress passed laws reversing long-standing farm policies aimed at protecting prices by limiting production\u201d and started giving payouts in proportion to output. Extra calories started pouring into the food supply.<\/p>\n<p>Then Jack Welch <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18166663\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gave<\/a> a speech. In 1981, the CEO of General Electric effectively launched the \u201cshareholder value movement,\u201d reorienting the primary goal of corporations towards maximizing short-term returns for investors. This placed extraordinary pressure from Wall Street on food companies to post increasing profit growth every quarter to boost their share price. There was already a glut of calories on the market and now they had to sell even more.<\/p>\n<p>This placed food and beverage CEOs in an impossible bind. It\u2019s not like they\u2019re rubbing their sticky hands together at the thought of luring more Hansels and Gretels to their doom in their houses of candy. Food giants couldn\u2019t do the right thing even if they wanted. They are beholden to investors. If they stopped marketing to kids or tried to sell healthier food or did anything else that could jeopardize their quarterly profit growth, Wall Street would demand a change in management. Healthy eating is bad for business. It\u2019s not some grand conspiracy; it\u2019s not even anyone\u2019s fault. It\u2019s just how the system works.<\/p>\n<p>As I discuss in my video <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-the-role-of-marketing-and-food-advertisements-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Role of Marketing in the Obesity Epidemic<\/a><\/strong>, given the constant demands for corporate growth and rapid returns in an already oversaturated marketplace, the food industry <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/22834044\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">needed<\/a> to get people to eat more. Like the tobacco industry before them, it <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/10968581\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">turned<\/a> to the ad makers. The food industry spends about $10 billion a year on advertising and around another $20 billion on other forms of marketing, such as trade shows, consumer promotions, incentives, and supermarket \u201cslotting fees.\u201d Food and beverage companies purchase shelf space from supermarkets to prominently display their most profitable products. They pay supermarkets. The practice is also <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26627090\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">known<\/a> as \u201ccliffing,\u201d because companies \u201cforce suppliers to bid against each other for shelf space with the loser pushed \u2018over the cliff.\u2019\u201d With slotting fees <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/reports\/use-slotting-allowances-retail-grocery-industry\/slottingallowancerpt031114.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">costing<\/a> up to $20,000 per item, per retailer, and per city, you can imagine what types of foods get the special treatment. Hint: It ain\u2019t broccoli.<\/p>\n<p>To get a sense of what kind of products merit prime shelf real estate, <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25487656\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">look<\/a> no further than the checkout aisle. \u201cMerchandising the power categories on every lane is critical,\u201d reads a trade publication on the \u201cbest practices for superior checkout merchandising.\u201d It was referring to candy bars and beverages. Just a 1 percent power category boost in sales could earn a store an extra $15,000 a year. It\u2019s not that publicly traded companies <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26910361\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">don\u2019t<\/a> care about their customers\u2019 health. They might, but like most of the leading grocery store chains, their \u201cprimary fiduciary responsibility is to increase profits\u201d above other considerations.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, tens of millions of dollars are <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/10968581\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spent<\/a> annually advertising a single brand of candy bar. McDonald\u2019s alone may <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/mcdonalds-to-review-its-2-billion-global-media-buying-account-1509036600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spend<\/a> billions a year. Now, \u201cthe food industry is the biggest spender on advertising of any major sector of the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReagan-era deregulatory policies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/mcdonalds-to-review-its-2-billion-global-media-buying-account-1509036600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">removed<\/a> limits on television marketing of food products to children.\u201d Now, the average child may <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/29093052\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">see<\/a> more than 10,000 TV food ads a year, and that\u2019s on top of \u201cthe marketing content online, in print, at school, at the movies, in video games, or at school,\u201d or even on their phones. \u201cNearly all food marketing to children worldwide <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18976142\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">promotes<\/a> products that can adversely affect their health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Besides the massive early exposure and ubiquity, food marketing has <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23940401\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">become<\/a> \u201chighly sophisticated. With the help of child psychologists, companies began to understand the factors that unconsciously influenced sales. They found out, for example, how to influence children and get them to manipulate their parents.\u201d Packaging was designed to best attract a child\u2019s attention, and then those products are placed at their eye level in the store. You know those mirrored bubbles in the ceilings of supermarkets? They <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23025726\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aren\u2019t<\/a> just for shoplifters. Closed-circuit cameras and GPS-like devices on shopping carts are used to strategize how best to guide shoppers toward the market\u2019s most profitable products. Behavioral psychology is widely <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18586908\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">applied<\/a> to increase impulse buying, and eye movement tracking technologies are utilized.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cunprecedented expansion in the scope, power, and ubiquity of food marketing\u2026<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21219166\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">coincided<\/a> with an unprecedented expansion in food consumption in predictable ways.\u201d Some techniques have \u201cskyrocket[ed] from essentially zero to multi-billion-dollar industries\u201d since the 1980s, including \u201cproduct placement, in-school advertising, event sponsorships.\u201d This led one noted economist to conclude that \u201cthe most compelling single interpretation of the admittedly incomplete data we have is that the large increase in obesity is due to marketing.\u201d Yes, innovations in manufacturing and political maneuvering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Obesity\u2026Be-Dammed%21%3A-What-It-Will-Take-to-Turn-the-Katz\/e9d455663abc1fb9134b2329500926c058f267a1?p2df\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">led<\/a> to a food supply bursting at the seams with close to 4,000 calories a day for us all, but it\u2019s the advances in marketing manipulations that try to peddle that surplus into our mouths.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I think the natural reaction to the suggestion of the power of marketing is: <em>I\u2019m too smart to fall for that. Marketing works on other people, but I can see through it.<\/em> But that\u2019s what everyone thinks! For a splash of cold water to shake us all out of this delusion, I next bring you some data: <a href=\"http:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-food-advertisements-in-the-obesity-epidemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Role of Food Advertisements in the Obesity Epidemic<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Also, for both the role of marketing and food advertisements, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-the-role-of-marketing-and-food-advertisements-in-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Friday Favorites: The Role of Marketing and Food Advertisements in the Obesity Epidemic<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This is the seventh in an 11-video series. If you missed any of the first six, check out 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>The unprecedented rise in the power, scope, and sophistication of food marketing starting around 1980 aligns well with the blastoff slope of the obesity epidemic. In the 1970s, the U.S. government went from just subsidizing some of the worst foods to paying companies to make more of them: \u201cCongress passed laws reversing long-standing farm policies &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10450","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\/10450","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=10450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}