Advertising and marketing in the food industry has been prevalent since the industry came into existence; however, the way food and beverage products are advertised to consumers has been in a state of constant change throughout the decades. Advertising in its early years was based on the simple concept of introducing a product to consumers to create awareness. The newspaper and the radio were the only real ways to advertise products in the early 1900s. Today, there are countless methods for companies to generate awareness about their products and encourage the public to buy them. Some of these methods include television commercials, magazine ads, movie ads, internet ads, billboards, radio, and newspapers.
Another considerable change in food industry advertising is the shift from purely informational ads to cunning and deceiving ads. Advertisements today have become outstandingly clever in the way that they attract consumers into purchasing their products. Today’s ads identify a certain demographic of people that would be expected to buy the product advertised and use subtle messages to convince the buyer that for some reason they “need” to have the product (Keller 2). According to Marlene Keller, author of “Advertising and Consumerism in the Food Industry,” “the food industry and their marketing counterparts are capitalizing on their ability to pinpoint exactly what people of certain ethnic groups, socioeconomic groups, genders, ages, religions, etc. look for in products to create advertisements accordingly” (3). The problem with this type of advertising emerges when unhealthy products are being marketed to consumers with little to no knowledge about nutrition and with low incomes that obstruct them from buying healthier foods which are usually more expensive. The food industry purposefully advertises unhealthy foods and beverages to a targeted group of people in order to promote sales and maximize their profits.
The food industry wants it’s consumers to...