“Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US”
Mary Story & Simone French
Mary Story and Simone French raised certain important issues in the study devoted to the analysis of food advertising and marketing aimed to govern the opinions of children located in the United States. The authors stand to the position that the companies treat adolescents and children as the major partners in the promotion of the food or relevant goods in this industry. From this perspective, children become the primary objective for the managers of the companies that concentrate on understanding of the needs of these children and this interest. Meanwhile, children are believed to have significant purchasing power at the food industry because they can operate with the decisions of the parents, manipulate in the desired manner and use several other techniques. Accordingly, the business units accept the fact that in order to have influence over the purchasing decisions of the children and their behaviour, it is highly important to employ diversified range of the marketing tools and channels as promotion of the advertisements via TV, kids club operation, production of the toys with the logo of the company, in-school promotion campaigns running on the ordinary basis. For the purposes of the objective of the research paper, the authors start from the analysis of the role of children in consumption of food products and its significance in relation to the other market shares. It is believed that childhood is the most suitable time for any person to behave preferences and skills. The same applies to preferences of the child to food habits and selection of the items in the food and beverages industry. In addition, the study shows that the person that got used to certain food habits in early childhood may change them rarely. The only possible trigger that may change the purchasing decisions of this person beyond his preferences in the childhood is problem with health. Besides the fact that any person is subject to the external influence that may vary the eating behaviour, the food advertising is the most crucial factor. The researchers undermine that children of the United States regularly spend up to $140 billion for purchase of the products. In this respect, the companies fight with each other for approaching children as the end-users of the food products. In fact, advertising is the pillar of the marketing strategies of the companies in the food industry. Moreover, the good industry represents sphere of the market where the companies prefer to spend major portion of the annul budget for promotion certain forms of marketing advertisements rather then their rivals in steal market. The marketing instruments of the companies in the food industry of the Untied States is grounded on the desire of the managers to raise attractiveness of the brand in the market with the increasing of the level of the recognition of the products by the ordinary customers. Furthermore, the marketers highlight the importance of the introduction of the advertisements in the TV environment as the major portion of the children begin to watch TV in the early years. In this regard, the parents are seemed to be deprived of the complete power over the children in watching different information, while the children receive an opportunity to get information about certain things. Given the fact that ordinary child in the United States attempts to watch TV regularly at the age of 2 years old, the marketers use this fact as the advantage for the entire volume of realization of the goods of the company. Consequently, the child is watching up to 40 000 of the commercials within the year. The introduction of the advertisements by virtue of their presentation at TV channels target the ability of the children to react to this piece of information. Approximately every five minutes the child may watch the commercial containing information about certain food product. The authors address the point that access of the children to this information is linked directly to their food habits. This implies that advertisements placed at media channels promote such food goods as cookies, chips while fruits and vegetables are not the objects of the marketing instruments. Based on this information received from the ads, the children start to think that consumption of the junk food is healthy for their living. Moreover, some children have no understanding that there are many other products that exist beyond the scope of the advertisements campaigns. The strengths of the study are in the ability of the researchers to note examples from the marketing strategies of the top-companies operating in the food market of the United States. With that, the authors list the range of the instruments as the in-school marketing, social media, TV channels by virtue of which the managers pursue the desire to increase sales of the particular product and attract major portion of the children and adolescents. The main conclusion of the survey conducted by the authors is that business units of the United States advertise products with high level of sugar. This strategy contradicts completely with the advice of the medical professionals in behaving healthy eating habits in the early childhood (Story & French, 2004).
Personal opinion
Despite the fact that the article was written in 2004, it’s findings are still relevant today. The United States is seemed to be the major country that has entered the fight with the obesity spreading among all classes of society. From one perspective, it is reasonable for the companies to follow the intention to stay competitive and hold competitive advantage at the market with all relevant sources and instruments. However, from another point of view, the companies should take care of the society and combat the consequences caused with the activity of the organization in the relevant environment. The promotion of the advertisements via different channels with the purpose to improve its recognition at the food industry influences directly the preferences of the children and their attitude to the products. The analysis made in this article has shown that the children is vulnerable category of consumers that usually should have time in the selection of the products. In fact, the companies have power to manipulate with the opinion of the children and their treatment to the products regardless of their benefits to the welfare of the adolescents. The companies have noticed that the significant portion of the children tend to purchase products that are reflected in the advertisements, while the other groups of products which are usually not covered with the ads are not purchased by the children. This article impressed me with the findings received at the end of the research study because I personally believe that the nature of the advertisements should be managed by the relevant state authorities. Due to the fact that there is a direct connection between the hours the child spends watching TV with the exposure to the obesity, the American society should request the state authorities to control the messages submitted by the companies in their marketing campaigns. Moreover, this approach will allow to protect children against unhealthy food habits in favour of selection of food pieces that are useful for development of the children. In this regard, I stand to the position that similar studies should be conducted in order to raise awareness of the population about this vital social problem that has appeared with the activity of the business units at the food markets. Finally, this article confirms that the companies are efficient in the application suitable marketing strategies. This assumption is grounded on the fact that the marketers have successfully identified target group and sent relevant message. Although, this information is not beneficial to the children because of the fact that companies follow personal profit-oriented objectives. With that, one may bear in mind that this experience of the food provident companies in the food market of the United States that is provided in the article is the example of the successful marketing advertising. In this respect, the food advertising is quite properly reflected in the article because the reader may see the words used by the companies in the promotion of the goods in the magazines and other resources and measure is effectiveness within the food market of the United Kingdom. The advertising is the powerful instrument at hands of the companies for the targeting audience suitable for the particular product, while the messages submitted to these people should be considered deliberately.
'Importance of Creative Advertising and Marketing According to University Students’ Perspective”
Remziye Terkan
According to Remziye Terkan, advertising is the form of the communication with the consumers of the company about its goods. Given the form of the current business environment, it is crucial to differentiate between the creative advertising and advertising in general because of the functions these marketing tools perform. In particular, the author believes that creative advertising is the strong side of the business activity of the company that allows to facilitate the consumers of the relevant market for the purchase of the promoted product. Accordingly, the creative advertising should be pursued by the companies jointly with the realization of the efficient marketing management. The author points out that current business environment is featured with the tremendous types of the obstacles that should be overcome by the business units in order to stay competitive. For the purposes of the improvement of its business activity, any organization should be familiar with the marketing management aimed to benefit the advertising campaigns launched. From the beginning of the article, the author lists drivers of the globalization process that amends the way the people interact with each other and doing business. Besides, the author appraises the idea that the consumers today is quite powerful in comparison with the position of the client of the company within previous years. There is no such notion as customer’s loyalty. Any individual has an opportunity to decide by himself in the selection of the products based on the achievements of the company in the production of this good. Furthermore, the company is not able anymore to set rules binding the person to act in certain manner towards the brand or its products. In this regard, the companies today tend to return their power in the business sphere with the advertising as the tools triggering the communicative activation. This statement should be understood in the manner that the companies may observe and make changes in the behaviour of the customers with the help of the advertisements. It is up to the representatives of the business unit to decide about the nature of the advertisements and its messages that should be accepted by the customers. In fact, the ad may be of informative or persuasive meaning, while the customers may not get at once the problem appeared. Based on the findings of the author, it is possible to state that advertisements have already plunged into the life of the individual completely so that it is quite hard to build protection against it. Within the entire study, the author poses the question to the audience regarding the importance of the advertising to the customers and business units. With that, the companies use marketing advertisements because of three primary reasons: to meet interests of the customers, increase sales and increase revenue. As to the supplementary objectives in the introduction of the advertisements campaigns about the goods and services of the company, this business units intend to extend the coverage of the consumers using the items of the organization. The promotion of the goods with the help of the advertisements allow to the company to save budget devoted to the distribution costs because of the opportunities provided with the Internet resources and other technological innovations. Meanwhile, advertising can not be limited as it may be shared among millions of people regardless the place they live in. In contrast, advertising may play interesting and powerful role for the customers. Despite the fact that more than 70% of the ads are located at the online resources, while the companies can not meet personally with the customers for the discussion of the quality of the goods, the distance between the brand and customer is minimal. This situation has appeared with the development of the Internet as the powerful communication platform for the individuals, while the human still enjoys the benefits it provides from day to day. What the author’s idea is that the companies may meet interests of the clients in much efficient manner because of the hidden opportunity to observe the behaviour of the consumer in the Internet. Moreover, there is no need to await for the feedback rom the managers pf the companies to the complains of the client that influences positives over the flow of the relations between the sides. The author attempts to deliver the opinion that companies and consumers can not imagine their lives without the existence of the advertisements. The availability of such marketing tools as advertisement forces people to adopt purchasing decisions in the comfortable manner. However, the companies act not fairly enough towards their customers because of the intention to recover the costs spent for the advertisement with the updated increased price for the product.
The main position of the author is grounded on the fact that any organization that pursues the decision to hold leading position in the market, should devote resources to the formation of the proper advertisements campaigns and efficient marketing management. From the perspective of marketing, the advertising is accepted as the instrument for persuasion of the customer. At the same time, the marketers feel necessity in the creation of the original and valuable ads about the products and services of the company in order to stay safe in the business environment (Terkan, 2014).
Personal opinion
This article is beneficial in understanding the pillars of marketing and techniques of the companies used for the promotion of the goods and products in the market. Any person reading this piece of information will receive complete picture about the plan of actions that should be taken by the marketers of the company so that to stay competitive and attractive for the personal consumers. It becomes clear that creativity is one of the most important assets of the companies today in the drawing the interest of the customers to the products and services of the organization because of the heated competition at the business sphere. However, the companies and consumers should cooperate with each other in the manner that certain benefits will arise for the both participants of the relationship. First, companies should act honourable towards its customers in the promotion the features of the goods. This statement implies that the company should present original information about the features of the good rather that to stumble customers and create obstacles for him in usage of the good. This approach will create credible relations between the client and company, while the reality is a bit different. The real world shows that companies promote advertisements about the goods of the company with certain level of misrepresentation regarding the benefits this product will bring to the client. In this regard, the advertising is viewed as strong marketing tool and weak at the same time. While it is up to the company to opt out for the manner in which this instrument will be used. Afterwards, it is highly important to note that I agree with the author on the fact that advertising and marketing are used by the companies with the intention to inform clients about the new achievements of the organization. With that, the planning of the marketing and its management is seemed to be necessary activity for any company because of the speed of the technological development and permanent changes in the consumers’ behaviour. In addition to this, I think that creative companies will always attract more customers in comparison to the target audience of the rivals. The modern customers favour the efforts of the brand to catch the attention of the client with all revenant resources regardless the expenses it may cost to the organization. Meanwhile, this article shows the impact of the globalization over the messages incorporated by the companies in the promotion of the goods. Given the fact that the production facilities of the companies in any industry are quite similar, the main power that may be used by the business units is exposure to the creativity in the preparation of the advertisements about the goods and services of the company. In this regard, the application of creative techniques in marketing advertising should influence positively over the development of the company in the business environment with the attraction of the modern customers favouring the introduction of innovations.
“Marketing messages in food and alcohol magazine advertisements, variations across type and nutritional content of promoted products”
Pitts & W. Burke
This particular article is devoted to the consideration of the messages promoted by the companies in the advertisements published in different magazines. The main objective of the author put in the beginning of the study is to consider the frequency of the usage of certain types of the marketing messages for the promotion of different goods and services. Despite the wide range of the advertisements existing in the business sphere, the focus of the research study is limited to the marketing messages promoting alcoholic and food products within the territory of the United Kingdom. It is clear that the author specifies women as the target group in his research that consumes advertisements much more frequently in the newspapers, magazines and several other resources. This paper concludes that in majority cases the products that are advertised by the company are not healthy for the consumption of the individual. However, the ordinary consumer pays less attention to this fact. Moreover, little amount of people takes care of the consequences of the purchase of unhealthy food or alcoholic beverages. According to the author, there are certain drivers that push the decision of the consumer to follow the advice presented in the advertisements. In particular, the people tend to purchase goods promoted with the help of marketing messages in order to improve social status or position in the society or receive competitive advantage over other people of this community. With regard to the group analysis of the attitude of the people to the marketing messages, the young people are exposed to the alcoholic consumption upon viewing of the advertisements at Internet, TV and other platforms used by the business units. Besides, this work is contributing to the marketing as the author gives the notion of the marketing messages for the clarification of the interaction of the companies with the customers. In fact, the marketing messages should be accepted as the hidden or evident themes or theories used by the companies with the purpose to advertise product and promote it for the usage of the consumers in different forms.
The marketing messages may have the form of the text or image as well as it may be incorporated in the audio file. Accordingly, the author gives rise to the idea that understanding of the essence of the marketing messages is useful in the prevention of the spread of the negative effects of the advertisements that may undermine the life and welfare of the individual. This implies that the state authorities jointly with the local population should act in the manner that will limit the realization of the less healthful foods and other products by virtue of introduction specific regulation. Meanwhile, some companies underestimate the power of the magazines today for the promotion of the goods and products. In fact, the business units today prefer to promote goods in the Internet with placing information and ads at social media platforms or TV programs. However, the message that can be delivered to the customers at these resources bears limited nature, while the consumer tends to spend more time for the consideration of the advertisements in the magazines rather than on TV screen. The author differentiates groups of the marketing messages used by the companies for the promotion of the goods. These groups are grounded on such features as taste of the product, its convenience for the consumer and quality of the item. Moreover, the nature of the messages used by the marketers may vary in accordance with the ethnical norms of different social groups. In order to achieve the objective in measurement the total amount of the marketing messages and its frequency in publication of the advertisements in magazines, the author covered all magazines published in the United Kingdom. In addition, the author conducted analysis of the information presented in these magazines with regard to the nutritional content of the food that was promoted. Among different advertisements included in the magazines, the attention was paid to the range of the food ads. These messages represent the advertisements used by the brand companies for the promotion of the food and drink products, while baby products and certain elements of the dietary supplements were not covered by these messages.
The data analysis confirms that approximately 726 ads were provided in 108 magazines. At the same time, the prevailing amount of the food marketing messages were incorporated in the women magazines. This business strategy of the food companies show that the women is the right group of the consumers for the promotion of the diet food or drink because of the dietary preferences of the females. Meanwhile, it has appeared clear that marketers caught the attention of the females as target audience with such words as ‘healthy’, ‘loss weight’, ‘diet’, while this information is not credible one. In this regard, the deliberate research shows that food advertisements that have the aim to promote food products of high in fat and sugar elements contained information about the reduction of the volume of specific nutrients. The importance of this research for the interpretation of the marketing messages lies in the fact that is assists in the understanding of the consumers’ behaviour. The customers have used to cover all advertisements under one group of the nutritional claims based on the amount of the low fat or low calories included in the information about the product. This perception gives rise to the opinion that this food is healthy. However, this assumption is misleading per se because of the fact that the companies show in the advertisements the information that shows the company from the positive side (Pitts, Burke, & Adams, 2013).
Personal opinion
This article is written in the simple manner for the purposes of the delivery the right information to the audience about the power and nature of the food advertisements. With the help of the information provided in this article, the reader may get the knowledge about the hidden techniques of the companies in the non-disclosure of the nutritional facts about the food promoted in the magazines, TV ads and other marketing messages. However, I believe that this information should be reconsidered nowadays because of the development of bio-technologies by virtue of which the companies have the opportunity to produce new range of the food products for the healthy consumption by the people. Moreover, I believe that some information is not presented in the advertisements by the companies in order to keep confidentiality about the production process and stay strong in the market. In this regard, it is impossible to state that companies have wrong marketing messages or act in deceptive manner towards the customers as they protect personal interests as well. It is highly important to find the balance between the pursuit of the interests of the consumers for the improvement of their health and increase of the profit of the company. I agree that there is less amount of the advertisements about healthy food. Although, it is not clear enough why the companies prefer to save budget for the promotion of the healthy products for the consumers rather than to advertise such food goods as Coca-Cola, chips and several others. I think that healthy food may be reflected in the advertisements in the attractive manner. Besides, it should be the question of the new supplementary research. At the same time, the article made by Pitt and Burke covers the extensive range of the magazines of the United Kingdom that should be respected. Accordingly, they have managed to show that interference of the advertisements in the current life of the customers. In fact, the efficient and proper advertisements contribute to the business activity of the companies in the relevant market, while the promotion of the marketing messages allow to hold the attention of the customers to the products of the company for the long-lasting period. Finally, this article reaffirms that the major portion of the budget is spent by the companies for the promotion of the alcoholic beverages and unhealthy food, while thid tendency should be changed.
“Social Media Advertising Platforms: A Cross-cultural Study”
Nikolaos Chatzithomas & Christina Boutsouki & Leonidas Hatzithomas
The main idea of this article is to consider the evolution of the marketing advertising and the techniques used by the companies within different years for the promotion of the products. The authors stipulate that there are no many researchers devoted to the examination of the role of the social media in different states for the spread of the corporate image among the consumers. The social media today is the important platform that should be appraised by the companies for the improvement of the communication with the customers regarding the pros and cons of the products. Besides, the evolution of the social media has already created evident obstacles for the companies in the marketing sphere as some business units still can not get accustomed to the fact that it worth to remove insufficient strategies in favour of new era of communication. The author states that the primary task of the companies today is to unite social media with traditional forms of the communication for the pursuit of the business goals and interests of the customers. This study is beneficial for investigation of the scope of the social media as the marketing tool for the advertising of the products. The author considers the models of the communication between the companies and their customers. In general, the author determines that today the industrial period communication model is applied jointly with the incorporated information system. The social media is accepted nowadays as the mix of the promotion techniques used by the businesses in the expansion of the information about the products, initiatives of the companies and several other data of consumer’s interest. The paper guides the audience through the features of the new communication model, base don which information about the products and services of the company is produced by the participants of the business environment, while the consumers are the only persons that primarily share this information via social media platforms. The author notes that the advantages of the usage of the social media in the promotion of the products are evident, while significant amount of the marketing professionals do not treat this technique as the valuable instrument for the marketing advertising. In this regard, the companies ignoring social media lose the benefits created with the promotion of the goods and services within the Internet and other Web 2.0 technologies.
For the purposes of the provision of the deliberate analysis of the role and power of the social media in the marketing advertising, the author notes the experience of the United States and Greece. The incorporation of the social media in the business sphere of these states is the long-lasting procedure, while the efficiency of this acceptance should be judged based on certain factors:
triability;
observability;
relative competitive advantage;
complexity of the innovation;
compatibility.
Power Distance;
Individualism – Collectivism;
Masculinity – Feminity;
Uncertainty Avoidance;
Long and Short Orientation.
Based on these determinants, the author evaluated the acceptance of the social media as marketing tool by the population of Greece and the United States, points out on the differences between the nations and similarities. In this regard, the author concluded that Greece is the form of collective society, while the United States is individualistic one. Based on this assumption and findings of previous research studies, one may get understanding the individualist societies are much more likely to accept technologies and innovations in the ordinary life. Meanwhile, the author targeted such online platforms as Twitter, Facebook and several others by the companies in order to communicate with their clients. In the United States approximately 70% of the companies referred to Twitter as powerful marketing tool, while the same level is applied to the communication with the help of Facebook. Therefore, this study contain evidence about the cultural differences of the people of Greece and the United States based on Hofstede’s determinants towards the power and role of social media in the marketing advertising (Chatzithomas, Boutsouki, & Hatzithomas, 2014).
Personal opinion
References
Chatzithomas, N., Boutsouki, C., & Hatzithomas, L. (2014). Social Media Advertising Platforms: A Cross-cultural Study. International Journal On Strategic Innovative Marketing, 1.
Pitts, A., Burke, W., & Adams, J. (2013). Marketing messages in food and alcohol magazine advertisements, variations across type and nutritional content of promoted products: a content analysis. Journal Of Public Health, 36(3), 417-425. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdt072
Story, M. & French, S. (2004). Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 1(1), 3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-1-3
Terkan, R. (2014). Importance of Creative Advertising and Marketing According to University Students’ Perspective. International Review Of Management And Marketing, 4(3), 239-246. Retrieved from
http://www.econjournals.com/index.php/irmm/article/viewFile/882/pdf
