Consumers and food

Jane LandonScottish Food & Drink Federation Symposium 201124 May 2011

Social determinants of health

People can only make personal choices about diet, physical activity and other health behaviours within a specific context. An „obesogenic‟ environment makes healthier choices hard to make.

Social determinants of health

Social, cultural and economic pressures can make the exercise of individual choices difficult, and these pressures can affect some people more than others.

The drivers of obesity – and their interdependencies – are complex

Source: “Tackling Obesities: Future Choices – Project Report” (2nd edition)

4 ‘P’s of marketing

Product Place Price Promotion

4 ‘P’s of marketing plus 1

Product Place Price Promotion Public sector provision

‘Product’

Formulation of products to reduce fat, sugar and salt

‘Place’

Support for fruit and veg sales at convenience stores

‘Place’

Placement of sweets and snacks at checkouts

Western

Europe

Eastern

Europe

McDonald's stores

01000

20003000

40005000

6000

1970 1980 1990 2000

W Europe

E Europe

Concentration and clustering of hot food takeaways – opportunities for healthy planning policies

‘Place’ – fast food,

everywhere

“Chronic over-production”of sugar, butter Court of Auditors

Cheapest calories from oils, sugars, starches

1p for 100 kcal

45p for 100 kcal

’Price’ - Common Agriculture Policy

Prices relative to all-food price index UK: 1980-2000

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Soft drinks

Fresh fruit

National Statistical Office and DEFRA, 1980-2000

Fruit prices increase 33% while soft drinks fall 22%

Taxes for social and health

purposes

Duties and levies on tobacco and alcohol for example

‘Price’ – subsidies and taxes

Soda taxes in California and Philadelphia to tackle chilld obesity

‘Promotion’ – information to

the public

The power of marketing

“At its most imaginative and wonderful best, [advertising] does more than influence consumers’ choice between brand x and brand y. It has the capacity to influence as well as reflect attitudes, behaviour and cultural norms on a much wider scale.”

Baroness Jean Coussins, ASA Council member ISBA Annual Conference, Thursday 28 Feb 2008

Entertainment or information?

“The Daily Mail, as you know, is engaged in a philosophical project of mythic proportions: for many years now it has diligently been sifting through all the inanimate objects in the world, soberly dividing them into the ones which either cause - or cure - cancer.”Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, December 2007

Food labelling

“Food labelling should be improved as a matter of urgency… A „traffic light‟ system should be investigated.”Health Education Council Canterbury Report 1984

Front of pack labelling

NGO consensus on criteria for

effective FOP

GDAs without colour coding can be misinterpreted

Statutory nutritional standards for school foodApply to all public sector provision – hospitals, prisons, armed servicesPowerful purchasers shape markets

‘Public sector food provision’

Government Responsibility

Deal for public health

Thank you

www.heartforum.org.uk