Fast food advertising
Fast food advertising promotes fast food products and utilizes numerous aspects to reach out to the public.
Along with automobiles, insurance, retail outlets, and consumer electronics, fast food is among the most heavily advertised sectors of the United States economy; spending over 4.6 billion dollars on advertising in 2012.[1] A 2013 Ad Age compilation of the 25 largest U.S. advertisers ranked McDonald's as the fourth-largest advertiser (spending US$957,000,000 on measurable advertisements in 2012) and Subway as the nineteenth largest (US$516,000,000).[2]
Campaign intentions
Fast food advertising campaigns have changed their intent over time. After hearing years of criticism of a fast food diet's harmful effects, many modern campaigns stress the availability of healthy options. The rise in awareness of proper nutrition and obesity has decreased the income of these establishments, and their marketing campaigns attempt to rectify this.[3]
Target audience
Fast food restaurants often aim some of their advertising directly at the youth population.
Other chains, such as Carl's Jr. and Burger King (see Burger King advertising), have directed advertising towards a different demographic – young teenage and college-age men – with trendy, often sexualized, imagery and messages that target men's supposed desire for large, meat-filled burgers and rich, satisfying food. For example, in 2005, Carl's Jr. debuted a controversial ad featuring a bikini-clad Paris Hilton writhing sensuously on an expensive Bentley luxury car while enjoying a large burger. While the ad provoked outrage from a number of groups, Carl's Jr. sales grew substantially.[9][8]
Regulation and criticism
One of the main areas where fast food companies face regulation is the advertising of "junk food" to children. In the United Kingdom, the Children's Food Bill is intended to highly regulate the advertising of such food aimed at children.[10] Many other countries are looking to introduce strict limitations on fast food advertising as well. Negotiations between the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and fast food companies were initiated in a collective effort to improve children's diets, though Burger King withdrew from the discussions.[11]
Some organizations have called for the
Faced with restricted television, radio and print regulation, many fast food companies have started making use of
On June 3, 2004 KFC withdrew American television commercials claiming that "fried chicken can, in fact, be part of a healthy diet" after reaching a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.[16]
Advertising authorities regularly receive complaints about fast food advertisements, with members of the public usually claiming that the wording is misleading. Not every complaint is upheld. Between September 11, 2002, and March 24, 2004, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK investigated complaints about six McDonald's advertisements, with only two of them being upheld. The ASA used one of the upheld complaints as a case study.[17]
In 2006 the European Union passed a new law regarding the labeling of foods - any food with a nutritional claim (such as "low fat") must also highlight that it is high in something else (such as "high salt") if that is the case. While fast food is often not given a traditional label, this may affect advertising.[18]
In November 2006, the Office of Communications (
In 2019, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, introduced restrictions on advertising of unhealthy food and drinks across the Transport for London network. A study estimated that this led to a 7% reduction in the average weekly household purchase of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. The largest reductions were seen in the sales of chocolate and sweets. There was no change in purchases of foods not classified as being high in fat, salt, and sugar.[23][24]
Sponsorship
Sport
Several international fast food companies have
Television
Some fast food companies sponsor television programs.
Fast food companies were major sponsors of the
See also
- Burger King advertising
- Burger King Kingdom
- The Burger King
- Burger wars
- Chick-fil-A § Advertising
- Coffee wars
- Wendy's advertising
- Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's (appeared in over 800 commercials for the chain)
- "Where's the beef?"
- Jack Box, the fictional CEO and spokesperson for Jack in the Box
- Taco Bell chihuahua
- John Schnatter, founder of Papa John's Pizza, who regularly appeared in commercials for the chain until 2018
- McDonald's advertising
- Psychological aspects of childhood obesity § Television and advertisements
References
- ^ Fast Food Marketing Ranking Tables 2012-2013 Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine. Yale. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ^ Meet America's 25 biggest advertisers Archived 2015-03-07 at the Wayback Machine. AdAge. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
- ^ Choueka, Elliott (2005-07-08). "Big Mac fights back". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2006-09-21. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ Schlosser, Eric (June 2011). "Fast Food Nation". www.nytimes.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-21. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
- ISSN 1308-9552.
- ^ "Disney and McDonald's deal ended". Norwich Union. 2005-05-10. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ Noe, Eric (2006-05-08). "Did Childhood-Obesity Worries Kill Disney-McDonald's Pact?". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2006-10-04. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ a b c Ashcraft, Brian (March 22, 2010). "Nintendo And McDonalds: A Short History". kotaku.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
- ^ Hein, Kenneth (2005-04-25). "Paris Ad for Carl's Jr. Too Hot for TV". Adweek. Archived from the original on 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- British House of Commons. 2004-05-18. Archivedfrom the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- The Sunday Times. London. Archivedfrom the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the originalon 2006-06-19. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ Kedgley, Sue (2003-03-06). "TVNZ's defence of fast-food advertising leaves foul taste". Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. Archived from the original on 2006-03-06. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ Simmonds, Malcolm (March 2006). "The Growth of Obesity". Alternative HealthZine. Archived from the original on 2006-10-04. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- Guardian Unlimited. Archivedfrom the original on 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ Bergren, Scott (2004-06-03). "KFC Responds to FTC Resolution of Advertising Inquiry". Archived from the original on 2006-10-31. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ "End of story for one fast food ad". Advertising Standards Authority. Archived from the original on 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ "Tight controls on food labelling". BBC News. 2006-05-16. Archived from the original on 2006-11-07. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ "Junk food ad crackdown announced". BBC News. 2006-11-17. Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
- ^ "Reactions in quotes: ad ban". BBC News. 2006-11-17. Archived from the original on 2017-08-12. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
- ^ a b "Junk food ad ban comes into force". BBC News. 2007-04-01. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^ "Junk food ad ban plans laid out". BBC News. 2007-02-22. Archived from the original on 2009-01-17. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-09-16.
- PMID 35176022.
- ^ "McDonald's :: About Us :: Sports Sponsorships". McDonald's Canada. Archived from the original on 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- PMID 26024917.
External links
- "Children's food choices, parents' understanding and influence, and the role of food promotions" at Ofcom (UK)
- "Food advertising" at Young Media Australia
- "TV fast food advertising ban rejected" at the Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 2005 (Australia)
- "Advertising budgets linked to fast food popularity" at Norwich Union, 1 December 2005 (UK)
- Ads Compared to Reality (article)