Pieter Rutsaert. Ghent University

1. COMMUNICATING FOOD FOR HEALTH BENEFITS
 NEW FOOD TRENDS AND MEANINGS 
 PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES AND FOOD COMMUNICATION 
 INNOVATIVE PRACTICES IN COMMUNICATION 
8th – 9th November, 2012
TARRAGONA
Research on food for health marketing for
shaping consumers’ acceptance
Wim Verbeke
Pieter Rutsaert

2. Three cases on “food for health”-marketing
• Consumer reactions to foods with nutrition and health claims
(Appetite paper)
• Key success factor in commercial food marketing and
transferability to public health campaigns (BMC Public Health paper)
• Potential of social media in food risk/benefit communication
(Trends in Food Science & Technology paper)

4. Consumer reactions to foods with nutrition and health claims
Verbeke, Scholderer & Lähteenmäki (2009) Appetite 52, 684-692.
– Design :
• Consumer study (n=341) with
• 3 claim types x 3 product concepts
• Nutrition, Health and Reduction of Disease Risk Claim
• Calcium-enriched fruit juice (unnatural, healthy)
• Omega-3 enriched spread (margarine) (natural, unhealthy)
• Fibre-enriched breakfast cereals (natural, healthy)
– Effect measures:
• Convincingness, Credibility,
• Perceived attractiveness, Intention to buy

5. Product concepts
Table 1. Product concepts and health claims used in stimulus materials.
Product concept Nutrition claim Health claim Reduction of disease risk claim
Calcium-enriched fruit juice Fruit juice enriched Fruit juice enriched Fruit juice enriched with
with calcium with calcium calcium reduces risk in the
strengthens bones development of osteoporosis
Omega-3 enriched spread Spread enriched with Spread enriched with Spread enriched with omega-3
omega-3 fatty acids omega-3 fatty acids fatty acids reduces risk in the
improves heart health development of cardio-vascular
disease
Fibre-enriched cereals Breakfast cereals Breakfast cereals Breakfast cereals enriched with
enriched with dietary enriched with dietary dietary fibre reduce risk in the
fibre fibre improves the development of inflammatory
intestinal transit bowel disease
function
Verbeke et al. (2009) Appetite 52, 684-692.

6. 4,5
Credibility
Attractiveness
Main effects of 4,25
Intention
claim type and
4
product concept
3,75
3,5
Nutrition claim Health claim Reduction of
disease risk claim
4,5
4,25
4
Credibility
3,75 Attractiveness
Intention
3,5
Calcium-enriched Omega-3 enriched Fibre-enriched
Verbeke et al. (2009).Appetite 52, 684-692. fruit juice spread cereals

7. Claim type – Product concept Interaction effects
estimated marginal means of credibility
as a function of claim type and product concept
(error bars represent 95% confidence intervals).
5.0
Calcium-
enriched fruit
juice
4.5 Omega-3
enriched
spread
Credibility
Fibre-
4.0 enriched
cereals
3.5
3.0
Nutrition claim Health claim Reduction of disease
risk claim
Verbeke et al. (2009).Appetite 52, 684-692.

8. Table 5. Estimates of fixed effects (unstandardised restricted maximum likelihood estimates).
Dependent variable
Effect Convincingness Attractiveness Credibility Intention
Age -0.01 -0.01 -0.02*** -0.01
Gender -0.05 0.00 -0.26*** 0.01
Children < 18 years 0.20 0.21 -0.15 0.25*
Children < 12 years -0.21 -0.11 0.12 -0.27*
Product experience (familiarity) 0.15*** 0.16*** 0.13*** 0.18***
Perceived impact of food on health 0.03 0.05* 0.06** 0.05
Perceived control over own health -0.11*** -0.19*** -0.09*** -0.09***
Subjective knowledge about FFs# 0.12*** 0.08*** 0.14*** 0.07**
General attitude towards FFs 0.32*** 0.35*** 0.27*** 0.45***
Perception of FFs as too expensive 0.00 -0.01 0.05* 0.04
Perception of FFs as a marketing scam -0.09*** -0.06* -0.17*** -0.12***
Note. *** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01, * p < 0.05 (two-tailed).
a
Reference category: reduction of disease risk claim (effect fixed to zero).
b
Reference category: fibre-enriched cereals (effect fixed to zero).
# FFs = Functional Foods

9. Conclusions claims study:
– Consumer study with “3 claim types x 3 product concepts” design
– Convincingness, credibility, attractiveness, intention to buy
– Health more convincing and attractive than Nutrition claims
– Reduction of disease risk claims lowest credibility and intention
– Significant interactions between claim type and product concept
– Demographic background had very little impact on perceptions
– Previous experience and general attitude boosted all ratings
– Perceived control over own health decreased ratings (no need?)
– Perception of FF as marketing scam decreased ratings (no trust?)

11. Background
• Food marketing’s likely negative role in the obesity pandemic
• What is the recipe for the success of food marketing?
• Social marketing:
– “Applying marketing in programs calculated to influence the acceptability of
social ideas”:
– … “healthy eating is a topical social idea”
– “Influencing the voluntary behaviour of target audiences to improve their
personal welfare and that of their society”:
– … “food choice is voluntary behaviour”
– … “there is a potential huge impact on personal and societal welfare”
• What are the key success factors and what about their use in future
social marketing campaigns for public health nutrition purposes?

12. Methods
• Case study approach
• 27 cases “successful in changing consumer behaviour” :
– Marketing effectiveness awards
– Food market experts judgment
– Food company recommendation

14. KSF1: Data and knowledge
• Superior data or knowledge
• Scientific nutritional evidence
• Market and consumer behaviour insight
• Awareness of emerging trends

15. KSF2: Emotions
• Emotional engagement by target audience
• Humour
• Wish for “simplicity”, “naturalness” and “back to nature”
• Happiness
• Emotional song
KSF3: Endorsement
• Basis for trust and credibility
• Vertical endorsement: personalities, role models, celebrities
• Peer endorsement: “people like me”

16. KSF4: Community
• Appeal to general human and social values and aims
• Belongingness and hared responsibility
• Active participation (often through new social media)
• Local origin, regional traditions and values
KSF5: Media
• Best possible media mix
• Right combination of media
• Massive use of media
• Creative use of media, triggering positive publicity (for free)

17. KSF6: Why and how
• Facilitate consumers’ ability to understand the message
• Activate motivation and ability to act accordingly
• Simple and clear message
• Short- and long-term benefits
• Explanation about how these benefits can be achieved

18. Discussion
• Is it feasible that public campaigns adapt and apply the identified
Key Success Factors?
Challenges / Limitations
• Objective: improved public health vs. commercial success
• Focus: general behaviours vs. specific products
• Message: avoidance vs. appealing for desire

19. Conclusions
Future public health campaigns can become more successful if:
• Preceded by more intensive research on behaviour and trends
• Stronger emotional appeal
• Emphasizing the desire for simplicity and naturalness
• Appealing to common values
• Re-connecting to local community
• Using right choice and mix of media
• Stressing short- and long-term benefits
• Fostering public-private partnerships

22. Opportunities associated with social media
• Gain understanding of the general publics feeling
• Observe consumer views on food issues
• Detect upcoming issues
• Generate online trust and credibility
• Take responsibility or express sympathy
• Honesty, openness and transparency
• Timely communication when needed
• Direct communication to the audience

23. Challenges associated with social media
• Escalation of a situation
• No control over situation
• Widely disseminated information which is incorrect or
misleading
• Need of resources and effort to feed, correct and control
• Long-term expense

25. Thanks for your attention!
Pieter.rutsaert@ugent.be