Marketing has a profound affect on the foods we eat and the beverages we drink, yet most of that marketing is for products we should avoid. BMSG monitors the media to help keep advocates informed of the tactics food and beverage companies use to target children, communities of color, and other groups that are particularly susceptible to the health harms these products cause. Below are archives of our monitoring.
Source: PR Newswire on November 25, 2014
Barilla is appealing to Latino consumers by having the bloggers create traditional meals using their pasta. The company explains, "the variety of our pasta shapes allows for Latinas to not only keep their traditional dishes alive, but also allows them to create new versions of these dishes in creative ways."
Source: Beverage Daily on November 22, 2014
Tetra Pak's Suley Muratoglu encourages companies to be more creative in their packaging to better engage with consumers. This includes thinking about the possibility of utilizing smart phones as social media becomes more of a place where consumers interact with products. Muratoglu thinks more graphic designs can help target younger consumers, as they are considered to be more visually driven and focused less on text.
Source: New Haven Register on November 22, 2014
The report by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity on soda marketing brings attention to the phenomenon of 'advergames', soda companies use of social media and games to target children. The mobile games are taking the place of advertisements on television. Children often download games with names like Fanta Fruit Slam 2 or Snapple Spiny Lobsters in Snaplantis without their parents' knowledge.
Source: NPR on November 20, 2014
Soda companies have decreased advertisements aimed at children and teenagers overall but have increased target marketing to Black and Latino children and teenagers. A report by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University found that Black youth have seen more than twice as many advertisements as white youth. Advertising on Spanish language television has increased 44%.
Source: Portada on November 10, 2014
John Costello points to multicultural marketing as being one of the strongest techniques of the brand. He identifies Latinos particularly as being a large market for Dunkin' Brands and targets them as an emerging population.
Source: PR Newswire on November 10, 2014
The digital content producer is encouraging advertisers to market to Latino millennials, calling them a growing market of consumers, more digitally engaged than other populations. Based on a study they conducted, Latino consumers are more receptive to digital advertising than non-Latinos. Terra is one of the largest digital content producers in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.
Source: Bustle on November 09, 2014
Through their Pizza Mogul campaign, young people are encouraged to design their own pizza, share it on Domino's website and social media and earn money if the pizza they've designed is popular.
Source: QSR on November 07, 2014
Checkers and Rally Restaurants are using comfort foods, such as grilled cheese and mozzarella sticks, to target millennials. In order to appeal to this demographic, they are revamping the foods to make them more portable, easier to eat on the go, and aggressively marketing their late night availability.
Source: Time Magazine on November 07, 2014
Mountain Dew has been offering free tastes of its new flavor, Dewitos, designed to taste like Doritos, to college students. The strategy has been marketed as giving "fans a voice in helping decide on the next new product..." but has so far only been seen on college and university campuses.
Source: PR Newswire on November 04, 2014
The company is partnering with J&J Snack Foods for this product, aimed to expand its market with Latino consumers.
