Advertising in the UK fastfood industry - Dissertation Example

Advertising in the UK fastfood industry 2. Background of the research topic With the growth of international commerce and the global distribution of goods and services, there has also been a commensurate growth in advertising to inform the buying public about these goods and services, and entice their patronage. Even retail food services, once thought of as a local undertaking, have also assumed the attributes of global enterprise. International fast food chains have set the standard for tasty food, efficient service, and reliable quality. It is but to be expected that advertising of these fast food enterprises shall likewise assume an international character. Because of the persuasive and even compulsive power of advertising, there have been cultural implications and ethical issues that come with international promotional campaigns. The question of cultural considerations in advertising comprehends more than the profit motive and the maximization of sales. It includes aligning the entire marketing effort with the values and norms of the society in which the business operates. The observance of ethical business precepts is inseparable from the advertising campaign and, indeed, from the entire marketing function. Therefore, when assessing cultural considerations particularly for advertising in the fast food industry, it necessitates adopting a viewpoint not only financially advantageous for the company, but also beneficial to the welfare of the society the business serves. 3. Research aim and objectives This study aims to explore the cultural considerations of advertising for the fast food business in the United Kingdom. These considerations not only admit of the advertising techniques and strategies that would ensure maximum sales as pursued in a straightforward marketing research. Because the concerns of ethical business and corporate social responsibility are inalienable from the profit motive in contemporary business studies, this research will likewise explore the culture content and ethical implications of fast food advertising in the UK, and their compliance with standards set by law and the Food Standards Agency, the UK Government food regulating agency. In order to accomplish this aim, the study targets the following objectives: 3.1 To determine the status of fast food advertising in the UK, for the period 2003 to present (to include findings from the Hastings review and the study by the Food Standards Agency.) 3.2 To understand the cultural issues and considerations that surround fast food advertising 3.3 To draw insight as to how an understanding of cultural attributes may make the advertising of fast foods more effective and mutually beneficial for both consumers and business. 4. Statement of the research problem and sub-problems What are the cultural considerations that advertisers should take into account in promoting the fast food business in the UK? 4.1 What is the current status of fast food advertising in the UK? 4.2 With the ban imposed on advertising for children, what strategic shift in marketing should fast foods consider in targeting the adult market? 4.3 Based on the revised marketing strategy, what are the social norms, beliefs and attitudes of adults that advertising must consider in pursuit of the new strategy? 5. Significance of the research topic The research topic is a timely and relevant issue in the United Kingdom, where in January 2007 a total ban was implemented by the Office of Communications (OFCOM) on the advertising of junk food and fast food to children. The new legislation was the result of the unrelenting campaign of parents and pressure groups, with the support of the British Medical Association, who were concerned about the worsening obesity problem besetting not only the UK but almost all developed nations. The ban covers all advertising of foods deemed to have particular appeal for children and youth under the age of sixteen. The advertising ban also comes at the end of an exhaustive three year research on the effects of junk food and fast food advertising on the eating habits of children, mandated by the UK government for OFCOM to undertake. Lobbyists from either side participated, including representatives from food manufacturers who worried about revenue deterioration. At this point, health campaigners are pushing for a furtherance of the ban to include all advertising of junk and fast foods before the watershed of 9pm. The move had made advertisers more creative, foregoing television advertising and resorting to social networking sites and mobile phones. (Fast Food Nation, 2011). 6. Initial literature review Cultural aspects of advertising. There is current debate about the relationship between advertising and the culture in which the advertising campaign is being launched. Many are apparently of the opinion that advertising influences those segments of the society that it intentionally targets. On the other hand, there are those who believe that advertising merely draws from aspects of culture already existing in that segment of society, and is therefore reflective of it. Such debates on various facets of the advertising campaign, such as media content as well as the characteristics of the media themselves. Unwin (1974) describes advertising as a medium on its own, with a function and format distinct from other communication vehicles where they may be contained. “Advertisements are unique composites of words and pictures, sounds and movement, and symbols and slogans” (Unwin, 1974, p. 24). More than other communication media, advertising is overtly persuasive, goal oriented, and frequently repeated. Moreover, the language advertising employs is firmly rooted in society’s cultural norms and values, and identifies more intimately with the nation’s psyche than even the communicator and audience alike are aware of. The study of cross-cultural communication is important not only for advertising but for all aspects of international marketing. When dealing with cross-cultural consumer behaviour, it is impossible to ensure an objective viewpoint, because the researcher or communicator himself is a cultural being with his own frame of reference (Davies & Fitchett, 2002). In the case of advertising, there is always the chance of imputing the communicator’s (seller’s) own cultural preconceptions and value system. The very nature of the product marketed is itself a vehicle for cultural transmission, even yet without the advertising effort. It is important for advertisers to know that viewers with different cultural backgrounds respond to the same stimuli in different ways. Alden, Hoyer & Lee (1993) conducted a study on the responses of four national cultures to humorous advertising. The message content varied along cultural dimensions, such as collectivism/individualism and power distance as described by Hofstede (1983). A study of differences and commonalities among cultural responses to specific types of advertising would be helpful in developing a globally standardised communications paradigm for various applications in the international marketing field. British culture in advertising. In general, British advertising, when compared with American advertising, leaves an audience with an impression of the product’s general value and benefits, whereas American advertising tends to emphasize a specific feature or characteristic of the product. British advertisements intentionally aim at ambiguity, preferring each member of the audience to arrive at his own interpretation of the message being conveyed, and therefore draw some value meaningful to himself. American advertisements go to great lengths to be definite and exact, and to eradicate all doubts and uncertainties in the minds of its audience. British ads are oblique and implicit; American ads are direct and explicit. Each has its negative points; the main message may be lost to the audience in the British ad, while the strong message may rub people the wrong way or be the wrong selling point in the American ad. (Unwin, 1974). Aside from the differences in style just mentioned, there are also differences in content. For instance, in Britain, words have retained a qualitative rather than a quantitative trait, with an “aura” of diffuse meanings any of which could be conveyed depending upon the vocal intonation or inflection. For Americans, words are functional devices meant to convey clear and unequivocal ideas in an efficient manner. American words are denotative, while British words are connotative (Unwin, 1974, p. 26). Fast food advertising. While advertising itself has its issues and concerns, there have been particular concerns that deal specifically with fast food advertising. The interest in fast food promotion appears to be fuelled by the significance of its implications to public health, particularly for children who are most vulnerable to advertisements encouraging fast food patronage. It also has a particular allure for teens and pre-teens who tend to congregate with friends in fast food establishments. Unfortunately, the obesity epidemic, which has been largely attributed to fast foods, has led to serious debates (for some, legislative measures) about the propriety of advertising and selling fast foods in schools and student cafeterias. Today, some jurisdictions ban such “unhealthy” food products from being sold in institutions catering to children and the youth. This has also put into jeopardy some business-school partnerships where schools tend to be beholden to large (fast foods) businesses which have contributed equipment and subsidy to their operations (Jones, 2007). Obviously, any fast food advertising that would be launched in such an environment should be able to contend with the apparent contradiction of their promotional efforts with the spirit of these regulations. As for cultural resistance to fast food consumption itself, there are places where advertising would create little dent in the local aversion to fast food. A study conducted in North Eastern Thailand determined, in a survey of a representative group of 634 individuals, there is a strong preference for local foods compared with the international fast foods. Half of the youth in the survey replied that they consume fast foods regularly, because they were attracted by the social events and marketing and the modern lifestyle implications, as much as the product taste and speed of service. However, at least three quarters of the respondents are aware that fast food causes obesity, and almost two-thirds believe that local foods should be given more publicity and promotion rather than fast foods (Seubsman, Kelly, Yuthapornpinit & Sleigh, 2009). Such local resistance raises the decision about advertising international fast foods in this area to a matter of ethics and morality as it is a matter of market strategy. Often the communication medium determines the impact of fast food advertising on children. Studies have indicated that television spot commercials that cater to children and are aired during children’s shows, exert a particularly potent influence on little children. As a consequence, heavy marketing of convenience or fast foods and other high-calorie refined products have made it more difficult for parents to exert the moderation necessary to ensure that their children receive the proper nutrition. Parental involvement remains the single most important determinant of the family diet, and usually parental mediation is capable of exerting influence in tempering or preventing some advertisements from being aired during the times they could do the greatest damage. On the other hand, for parents to make the right choice of food, they also rely on television advertisements. Much depends, therefore, on the partnership of parents and advertisers in the matter of advertising content where their children are the target audience (Harrison & Marske, 2005). Promotion of fast food in the UK. Ambler (2006) provided a detailed account of the Hastings review commissioned by the Food Standards Agency in 2003. The Hastings Study determined that certain branded foods (such as cereals) and drinks are intentionally made more attractive for children. Comparatively, 23% of advertising during childrens programmes deals with food and drink, as against 18% for overall advertising. Admittedly, children are targeted by advertising, but given the overall picture, this segment does not comprise a dominant share of total advertising. The Study also investigated the kind of effects food advertising has on its young target audience, and found out that promoting foods to children affects their knowledge, preferences and behaviour; had there been no major or lasting effects, the advertisers would have discontinued it long ago, therefore such effects were known to them. While advertising to adults converts just as much to an increase in sales, advertising to children has a more profound influence over their knowledge, attitudes and behaviour because of their lack of life experience and inability to critique and censure the messages they are receiving (Ambler, 2006). Another study focusing on the controversies surrounding advertising to children in the UK was conducted by O’Sullivan (2007). This study employed the Critical Discourse Analysis method in analyzing the controversy of advertising to children in the UK, specially, although not exclusively, concerning fast foods. The method employs a discursive scrutiny of a selection of publicly available accounts of children and advertising in relation to each other, and provided important insights into the conduct of future studies linking the nature of children’s consumption and the directions and strategies taken by advertising. Of valuable insight also is the study that inquired into the manner by which children categorized foods in the UK. Experiments were conducted to gain some insight on children’s perception of food, how they classify them, in order to gain information that would aid in the central debate on the role of advertising in consumer behaviour (Young, 2000). The results of the experiments showed that in response to the question of the interviewer, the children listed names of types of foods that are popularly known, but with few particular food brands. Of all the names enumerated by the children, only 2% were brands, namely, KFC (mentioned by 55% of participants) and Coke (57%). While the number of brands mentioned are not many, their prevalence among the majority of participants is surprising, and may be cause for further research as to how these brand retentions have been developed in the minds of young children; most likely, this would have value for the formulation of advertising for children. 7. Schematic model of proposed research As a conceptual framework for the proposed research, the following model has been adapted from a study on fastfood advertising in the United States. It will be noted that the emphasis in this research will be the consumption of fast food by the child, although the mechanism explored is the marketing mix (among which is advertisement) censured through the parents’ discretion exercised against the background of their marketing exposure. The model takes into account that advertisement is but one factor in the determination of the end effect. Inasmuch as the ban is in place, then all organized market action linking children and fast food are coursed through their parents. This is where the culture comes in, where parents’ attitudes and values and the social norms related to fast-food consumption are determinative. Conceptual Framework Adapted from: Grier, Mensinger, Huang, Kumanyika, & Stettler (2007) H1: Parents’ reported access to fast-food restaurants and exposure to fast-food promotion are associated with their children’s fast-food consumption. H2: Parents’ (a) beliefs about community norms surrounding fast food and (b) attitudes toward fast food mediate the relationship between parents’ reported access to fast-food restaurants and exposure to fast-food promotion. 8. Methodology description and justification The study shall employ the hybrid or mixed research methodology, combining both qualitative and quantitative data elements in order to arrive at salient findings. The qualitative method shall include face-to-face interviews with adult respondents, as well as a qualitative search through existing academic and policy studies on advertising for fast foods in the UK. The quantitative study shall consist of a survey administered through questionnaire to test the hypotheses presented in the preceding section. Respondents shall be comprised of a random sample of parents with children of 16 years and below. The reason for a reliance on mixed methods is that advertising as a field of study defies a purely structure and objective approach. There is a large area of advertising theory that deals with market psychology, or the manner by which the target market participants regard the product, and how advertising may address psychological and cultural barriers to present the product for the consumer’s information and favourable consideration. The qualitative approach is necessary in order to capture information concerning the target market’s beliefs, norms and attitudes towards fast foods. On the other hand, this study would lack in reliability if it did not include the opinions of a large number of people, a sample truly representative of a society whose cultural attributes are being studied. This would justify the use of a survey questionnaire, which allows for the gathering of broad-based sentiment from a large number of respondents in a short period of time. The use of documentary data from academic and policy studies will provide the third source of data, so that triangulation for the research is complete, and a greater level of validity of findings may be attained. 9. Planned analysis of the data The data shall be analyzed through both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques. Descriptive statistics shall be employed in the analysis of the resultant scores garnered by the survey questionnaire. The survey items shall be formatted as declarative statements, to which respondents shall signify their level of agreement or disagreement, in the form of a Likert scale. The respondents may be stratified according to the ages of their oldest children: from 0 to 10 years, and from 10 to 16 years, representing the varying levels of parental authority over the child’s dining disposition. Responses from the two groups shall be statistically compared to determine whether or not there is any significant difference between them. 10. Time table (“project plan”), appraisal of resource needs, access for carrying out the research The time table is presented in the next page. The resources needed for the study shall comprise of internet access to source online journals, a means for disseminating the survey questionnaire both in hard copy and in soft form, and the SPSS statistical software and Excel spreadsheet softwares, which are available to the researcher. Time (weeks) Schedule (dates) Activity Description of activity Initial academic survey Library and online search Formulation of survey questionnaire Writing questions and formatting survey form Data gathering Dissemination and collection of questionnaire Data analysis Collating data, statistical analysis, qualitative analysis Dissertation writing Actual writing of the dissertation Presentation Presentation and conduct of revisions on the dissertation References: Advertising Standards Authority website. Accessed 27 February 2011 from http://www.asa.org.uk/ Alden, D L; Hoyer, W D; & Lee, C 1993 “Identifying Global and Culture-Specific Dimensions of Humor in Advertising: A Multinational Analysis”, Journal of Marketing, April, vol. 57, pp. 64-75 Ambler, T 2006 “Does the UK promotion of food and drink to children contribute to their obesity?” International Journal of Advertising, vol. 25 issue 2 pp. 137-156 An, D 2007 “Advertising visuals in global brands’ local websites: a six-country comparison”, International Journal of Advertising, vol. 26, issue 3, pp. 303-332 Carter, O B J 2006 The weighty issue of Australian television food advertising and childhood obesity. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, vol. 17 issue 1 pp. 5-11 Cronin, A M 2004 “Regimes of Mediation: Advertising Practitioners as Cultural Intermediaries?” Consumption, Markets and Culture. 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