Digital Marketing in Food and Nutrition Advertisement - Case Study Example

How Food and Nutrition Advertisements Influence the Perception of Adolescent Girls on their Eating Habits and Nutritional Status ment of theProblem Food and nutrition is an important part of the lives of all people. This notwithstanding, there are a number of factors that ought to be considered whiles making decisions on what ones eat. As the saying goes, you are what you eat. What this means is that the food, drinks, and drugs that take into our bodies have a lot of effect on how we turn out to be in several aspects of our lives including physical growth, psychological development and social adaptation (Patel, Smith, Knowles and Lin, 2012). The importance of being very critical of what a person eats and drinks notwithstanding, there are so many problems that serve as a limitation to selecting and consuming the best of food, drinks and drugs. Because food and nutrition products are part of the basic necessities of life, there is often so much competition among people engaged in the sale of these products. As part of ways of surviving their various competitions, these marketers resort to the use of many different modalities of marketing including the use of advertisements (Norazmir, Norazlanshah, Naqieyah and Khairil Anuar, 2012). The core problem with these advertisements however has to be with the fact that they are presented only as a marketing tool to catch the attention of people to products and make them purchase. The advertisements are not necessarily a tool for educating the public on particular nutritional values of food. Because of this, the tendency that advertisers will refuse to state the real case about their products, such as side effects is rare (Patel, Smith, Knowles and Lin, 2012). Meanwhile, in their purchases, most young people, particularly adolescent girls do not take time to go beyond advertisement message but make purchases merely based on what they hear and read in advertisements. Conceptual Framework The study I am undertaking shall be conceptualized from the perspective of strategies and approaches used by advertisers in targeting the youth in complying with their marketing strategies. To this end, a lot of emphasis shall be placed on digital marketing in food and nutrition advertisement. As part of the current digital age, food and nutrition advertisers are constantly taking advantage of the unique benefit of digital marketing as being boundary-less, piercing and globalised to enter into almost every corner, hole and room where they can find a young person (Mallory, Fiser and Jackson, 2009). Invariably, the youth are also highly obsessed with the digitization of almost everything around them, including digital marketing (Norazmir, Norazlanshah, Naqieyah and Khairil Anuar, 2012). This way, there is a ubiquitous connectivity that is created as a result of digital marketing. From a more conceptualized perspective, the components of ubiquitous connectivity which includes the personalization of marketing, the use of social graph, the emphasis on user-generated content, promotion of engagement, and utilization of immerse environment shall all be researched into. This conceptual framework is depicted in the diagram below. Source: Montogomery, Grier, Chester, and Dorfman (2011) The justification of this conceptual framework is that the growing influence of digital marketing, which is translated in the use of the internet and other digital sources, cannot be overemphasized. The use of internet has become part of adolescent girls and this cannot be denied in any way (Lackey and Kaczynski, 2009). Discussion of Subjectivity As part of the qualitative study, I am going to use subjective and discretional judgments in the collection and analysis of data. even though this approach to research may have its own advantages, it has often been criticized as promoting unfairness and lack of credibility in data collection as the results are thought to be prone to manipulation by me (Mallory, Fiser and Jackson, 2009). In this study, I shall take particular efforts in ensuring that this situation does not prevail. In the first instance, in the course of ethnographic data collection, I shall only take the position of a facilitator rather than an implementer of the research variables. What this implies is that I am only going to guide the respondents to produce results rather than being personally involved in the process of production of data. as part of this, there shall be the use of a random sampling technique, which will ensure that the people sampled for the study are people who will have their personal opinions rather than those manipulated by me. What is more, the sampling shall take place from a very diverse and widespread research setting. This way, the views can be generalized over a very wide population base. Finally, I shall employ the use of a type of qualitative data analysis procedure that is based on the use of computer software so that the justification behind analysis can be unquestionable. Purpose of the Study Based on the research problem discussed earlier, I am seeking to undertake this research with the purpose of finding the impact of food and nutrition advertisement on decisions made by adolescent girls when making purchases of these products. The term ‘impact’ as used in the purpose of the study refers to two major perspectives of study. The first has to do with the outcomes that advertisers derive from their advertisements. From this perspective, the marketing values of food and nutrition advertisement shall be tested. The perspective shall also expand to areas that have to do with the provisions being made by the larger food and nutrition industry to ensuring that advertisers comply with basic principles and rules of conducting fair advertisements. The second perspective will border on the response that adolescent girls give to advertisements and how the purchasing behavior of these people is influenced by what they hear and see in advertisements. This perspective shall also be expanded to include any possible negative effects that food and nutrition advertisements have on the adolescent girls. In the eventual while, the research will serve the purpose of both the advertiser and the recipient of the advertisements and ensure that there is a level field where each of these two groups benefits from food and nutrition advertisement. General overview of the Methods to be used The approach to the research is qualitative research. As part of the qualitative research, I am going to employ the use ethnographic research design. This means that there will be a combination of approaches basically comprising the use of focus group and case study of an identified population (Luder, Melnik, and DiMaio, 2008). Within the population, I shall collect ethnographic data pertaining to their attitude towards advertisements. The population of the study shall be set in a high school where a sample size shall be constructed from the female population of the study. The selection of the sample size shall be done in a way that ensures that not too many people are included as respondents. This is because I would want to have a critical study of the respondents and be able to adequately handle all variables within the sample size. Where there are very large sample sizes, I shall have the limitation of conducting generalized studies that does not make it possible to critically study each respondent thoroughly (Lackey and Kaczynski, 2009). However, as part of the ethnographic research design, it is important that I delve deep into each respondent’s case and critically study variables that are unique to the respondents. Because of this, data collection shall involve 10 respondents who will be selected from a class of 25 female students. Data collection will be done by use of an interview guide. This means that all respondents are going to have to answer to the same set of questions. This notwithstanding, depending on the responses given by each respondent, different follow up questions may be posed. Limitations and Delimitations Whiles conducting the study, it is anticipated that there are a number of limitation that will be encountered. The major limitation has to do with the collection of data from respondents through the use of interview. Because I double as a staff for the students, there is the likelihood that respondents are going to answer to questions in a way that they feel will satisfy my interest rather than giving frank and subjective responses. This is an anticipated limitation with the research method. However, it is adequately going to be addressed by employing a more informal approach to data collection than a formal one. This way, respondents will feel free to give responses as it applies to their unique situations (Luder, Melnik, and DiMaio, 2008). What is more, I shall be strategic with the posing of questions in such a way that the same questions are going to be posed in very different ways to test the consistency in responses to be produced by the respondents. Answers from questions that produce inconsistent responses will be eliminated when analyzing results. With this noted, the delimitation of the study will be defined as comprising only the area of food and nutrition advertisement rather than the overall topic of advertisement. Again, the emphasis of sample shall be on female adolescents only. This will not be expanded beyond female adolescents. Research Question 1 What recourse do adolescent girls have in making informed decisions about the food they take? 2 How does advertisement and food labels influence the perception of adolescent girls on patronizing various food and nutrition products and services? Hypothesis H0: Food and nutrition advertisement has direct impact on the buying habit of adolescent girls H1: Food and nutrition advertisement does not influence decisions made by adolescent girls when buying. Summary I am undertaking this study to find out the relationship between food and nutrition advertisement and the decisions that adolescent girls make on purchasing various food products. It would be noted that advertisement is an important part of marketing where by marketers use advertisement to draw the attention of potential consumers to their products. The food and nutrition industry is no different. My preliminary literature search has however showed that advertisers do not advertise to educate and inform but to entice (Gall, Gall and Borg, 2007). Because of this, they do not put up everything that girls need to know about their products in their advertisements. This research will therefore collect primary data from adolescent girls to know how their decisions are influenced by advertisements. References Ahmadi, A., Torkamani, P., Sohrabi, Z., & Ghahremani, F. (2013). Nutrition Knowledge: Application and Perception of Food Labels Among Women. Pakistan Journal Of Biological Sciences, 16(24), 2026-2030 Antúnez, L., Vidal, L., Sapolinski, A., Giménez, A., Maiche, A., & Ares, G. (2013). How do design features influence consumer attention when looking for nutritional information on food labels? Results from an eye-tracking study on pan bread labels. International Journal Of Food Sciences & Nutrition, 64(5), 515-527. doi:10.3109/09637486.2012.759187 Federal Trade Commission (1995). Enforcement Policy Statement on Food Advertising. Accessed November 12, 2013 from http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/policystmt/ad-food.shtm Freedman, D.S., W.H. Dietz, S.R. Srinivasan, and G.S. Berenson, The relation of overweight to cardiovascular risk factors among children and adolescents: the Bogalusa Heart Study. Pediatrics, 2009. 103(6 Pt 1): p. 1175-82. Gall, M.D., Gall, J.P., & Borg, W.R. (2007). Educational research: An introduction (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon. Harrison, K., & Marske, A. L. (2005). Nutritional Content of Foods Advertised During the Television Programs Children Watch Most. American Journal Of Public Health, 95(9), 1568-1574. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2004.048058 Hindin, T. J., Contento, I. R., & Gussow, J. (2004). A media literacy nutrition education curriculum for head start parents about the effects of television advertising on their children’s food requests. Journal Of The American Dietetic Association, 104(2), 192-198. Harrison, K., & Marske, A. L. (2005). Nutritional Content of Foods Advertised During the Television Programs Children Watch Most. American Journal Of Public Health, 95(9), 1568-1574. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2004.048058 Kirkwood, L. (2005). An artists perspective on body image, the media, and contemporary society. Journal Of Nutrition Education And Behavior, 37 Suppl 2S125-S132. Koplan, J.P., Liverman, C.T. and Kraak, V.I. (2005). Preventing childhood obesity: health in the balance: executive summary. J Am Diet Assoc, 105(1): p. 131-8. Kroller, K., & Warschburger, P. (2009). Maternal feeding strategies and childs food intake: Considering weight and demographic influences using structural equation modeling. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 6 (1), 78. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-6-78 Lackey, K., & Kaczynski, A. (2009). Correspondence of perceived vs. Objective proximity to parks and their relationship to park-based physical activity. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 6 (1), 53. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-6-53 Luder, E., T.A. Melnik, and M. DiMaio, (2008). Association of being overweight with greater asthma symptoms in inner city black and Hispanic children. J Pediatr, 132(4): p. 699-703. Lackey, K., & Kaczynski, A. (2009). Correspondence of perceived vs. Objective proximity to parks and their relationship to park-based physical activity. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 6 (1), 53. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-6-53 Mallory, G.B., Jr., Fiser, D.H. and Jackson, R. (2009). Sleep-associated breathing disorders in morbidly obese children and adolescents. J Pediatr, 115(6): p. 892-7. Norazmir, M. N., Norazlanshah, H. H., Naqieyah, N., & Khairil Anuar, M. I. (2012). Understanding and Use of Food Package Nutrition Label among Educated Young Adults. Pakistan Journal Of Nutrition, 11(10), 934-940. Patel, A., Smith, C., Knowles, T., & Lin, Y. (2012). Nutrition and health claims: An enforcement perspective. Trends In Food Science & Technology, 28(1), 15-22. doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2012.06.006 Appendix How Food and Nutrition Advertisements Influence the Perception of Adolescent Girls on their Eating Habits and Nutritional Status Interview Guide 1. Do you ever have the chance of buying the food and nutrition products that you use on a day to day basis? 2. What role do your parents play in the purchases that you make? 3. By what ways do you often hear about the kind of food and nutrition products and services that you patronize? 4. When you listen to food and nutrition advertisements, what are the specific things you hear about particular products that make you choose to buy some? 5. Does the frequency at which you hear about a particular food and nutrition product or service in the media make you feel like patronizing the product? 6. Have you ever decided to buy a particular food and nutrition product because in the advertisement, a celebrity you like recommended it? 7. Do you always believe everything you hear in food and nutrition products and services? 8. Have there been occasions where your peers have recommended a food and nutrition product to you and tried to force you to purchase some? 9. In your opinion, is it right that you also try a food and nutrition product because it worked well for your friend? 10. How do you respond to friends who often pressure you to buy food and nutrition products because they tried it and thought it was good for them? 11. Are you often concerned with the nutritional values and possible side effects of products and services that are publicized in food and nutrition advertisements? 12. Can you mention some of the possible negative effects that you may get when you purchase food products and services that are not health? 13. Do you have a personal experience with any of the effects you mentioned in point (5)? 14. Do you know of any friends who have negatively suffered from buying certain food and nutrition products or services? If so, kindly explain their experience. 15. When you buy food and nutrition products, do you thoroughly read their labels before using them? 16. Have you ever bought a food and nutrition product, which you refused to use after reading its content on the package or label? If yes, why? 17. If you spend huge sum of money to buy a food and nutrition product and it turns out that it has few days to expired, are you going to discard it or you will use it? 18. Have you ever bought a food and nutrition product or service that is reserved for adults only? 19. In our opinion, will you say you have a good attitude towards food and nutrition advertisement? 20. If your own estimation is positive, how will you maintain it and if it is negative, how will you improve it? For the requirement of the class project, you are doing OK. The ideas were presented relatively clearly and logic. You have done extensive readings to pull things together and reflections and reviews. The major components for a research proposal are included in this project. Grade 88/100 I provided comments and suggestions for throughout the paper and feel free to revise and resubmit. If you have time constraints, you can keep this as a working document for your future effort. The grade will not affect your total GPA. Read More