Communication, Diet Quality, Young Adult Health
Conditions
Brief summary
The primary objective of this study is to identify the food counter-marketing messages (i.e., messages that describe deceptive marketing tactics used by food companies) that are perceived as most effective among young adults.
Detailed description
Participants will complete a within-subjects, randomized experiment in which they view and rate messages describing deceptive marketing tactics used by food companies to sell unhealthy products. Messages cover five topics: (1) lying about unhealthy products being healthy, (2) engineering foods to be addictive, (3) covering up evidence about the harms of consuming unhealthy products, (4) targeting groups, (5) piggybacking on social causes to promote products. Each topic is presented in five framing variants: an unframed version and four values-based frames that connect the message to a value (e.g., authenticity, fairness). Participants also view one control message, for a total of 26 messages (5 topics × 5 framing variants, plus 1 control). Topic order is randomized across participants; within each topic, the five framing variants are presented consecutively in random order.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALLying about unhealthy foods being healthy
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies promote unhealthy foods as healthy.
BEHAVIORALEngineering foods to be addictive
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies engineer foods to be addictive.
BEHAVIORALTargeting groups
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies target some groups to sell their unhealthy products.
BEHAVIORALPiggybacking on social causes
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies promote their unhealthy products by piggybacking on popular social causes.
BEHAVIORALCovering up the evidence about the harms of unhealthy foods
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies cover up evidence about the harms of their unhealthy products.
BEHAVIORALControl
Participants will view 1 control message about fire safety.
Sponsors
Stanford University
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 29 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Age between 18-29 years * Reside in the United States * Consume at least 5-6 servings per week of sugary drinks and 5-6 servings per week of sweet and salty snacks
Exclusion criteria
* Younger than 18 or older than 29 years * Reside outside of the United States * Consume less than 5-6 servings per week of sugary drinks or less than 5-6 servings per week of sweet and salty snacks
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Perceived message effectiveness for discouraging consumption of unhealthy foods | The survey will take up to 15 minutes | The study will assess perceived message effectiveness for discouraging consumption of sugary drinks and processed snacks with 1 item: "This message discourages me from wanting to consume sugary drinks and processed snacks." Response options for all items will range from "Not at all" (coded as 1) to "A great deal" (coded as 5). Higher scores indicate higher perceived message effectiveness. The survey will measure perceived message effectiveness immediately after participants are exposed to each message. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
CONTACTAmanda Food Policy Lab Study Team
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORAnna H. Grummon
Stanford School of Medicine
Outcome results
None listed