Atlantic Journal of Communication Pub Date : 2020-09-27 , DOI: 10.1080/15456870.2020.1821028 Mark Allen Flynn 1, 2, 3 , Tristyn Surprenant , Clay M. Craig , Andrea Bergstrom
ABSTRACT
This paper used Fooducate product ratings to evaluate the healthiness of food products being advertised in 15 U.S. magazines over a 1-year period (N = 623 food products), and compared those ratings across product categories, magazine genres, types of claims, and the presence of endorsement seals. Novel food rating apps like Fooducate offer scholars the ability to credibly assess food products in analyses of media content. In line with the academic grading scale where “A” is excellent and “D/F” is poor/failing, results indicate an average grade of approximately a “C+” (M = 2.57; SD = 0.80). Products in the ingredient, beverage and food pyramid categories received the highest scores, whereas foods high in fat/sugar, dietary supplements, and prepackaged meals scored significantly lower. Of the five magazine genres explored, health and food magazines featured the healthiest foods while fashion and women’s magazines featured the least healthy. In addition, products making health claims were significantly healthier than products without such claims, supporting their accuracy. Finally, advertisements with endorsement seals had the highest health ratings of any category assessed. Implications based on previous work in food advertising research are discussed, such as the benefit of including this topic in adult nutrition literacy initiatives.
中文翻译:
对我有好处吗?杂志广告食品健康性的内容分析
摘要
本文使用Fooducate产品评级来评估在 1 年期间( N = 623 种食品)在 15 家美国杂志上刊登广告的食品的健康性,并比较这些评级在产品类别、杂志类型、声明类型和背书印章的存在。像Fooducate这样的新型食品评级应用程序为学者提供了在分析媒体内容时可靠地评估食品的能力。根据“A”为优秀而“D/F”为差/不及格的学术评分标准,结果表明平均成绩约为“C+”(M = 2.57;SD = 0.80)。配料、饮料和食物金字塔类别的产品得分最高,而高脂肪/高糖食品、膳食补充剂和预包装食品的得分明显较低。在探索的五种杂志类型中,健康和食品杂志以最健康的食物为特色,而时尚和女性杂志的特色最不健康。此外,做出健康声明的产品比没有此类声明的产品更健康,这支持了它们的准确性。最后,带有背书印章的广告在所有评估类别中的健康评级最高。讨论了基于先前食品广告研究工作的影响,例如将该主题纳入成人营养素养计划的好处。