Cargando…

Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging

The digital marketing of commercial complementary foods (CCF) is an emerging area of concern in Australia. Although research into traditional methods has identified a range of problems, the marketing and messaging strategies employed within digital spaces have gone largely unscrutinized. This study...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dearlove, Trish, Begley, Andrea, Scott, Jane Anne, Devenish-Coleman, Gemma
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8345376/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34360227
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157934
_version_ 1783734612179025920
author Dearlove, Trish
Begley, Andrea
Scott, Jane Anne
Devenish-Coleman, Gemma
author_facet Dearlove, Trish
Begley, Andrea
Scott, Jane Anne
Devenish-Coleman, Gemma
author_sort Dearlove, Trish
collection PubMed
description The digital marketing of commercial complementary foods (CCF) is an emerging area of concern in Australia. Although research into traditional methods has identified a range of problems, the marketing and messaging strategies employed within digital spaces have gone largely unscrutinized. This study sought to examine the methods used by CCF manufacturers to promote Australian baby foods and brands in a digital space. A multiple step approach was used to assess the CCF brands available in major Australian retailers, the social media platforms they used, and to thematically analyze the text and visual messages contained in posts published over a three-month period. Of the 15 brands identified, 12 had a digital presence, and all of these used Facebook. Four themes emerged from an analysis of 216 Facebook posts; (1) general product attributes, (2) socially desirable attributes (which included messaging related to taste (41%), self-feeding (29%) and fun (19%)), (3) concern-based attributes (including organic status (40%), age targets (39%) and additive-/allergen-free status (18%)) and (4) health-focused attributes (which included messaging related to healthy/nutritious ingredients (45%), and child development/growth (15%). Messages contained in Facebook posts were mostly positive brand/product aspects (Themes 1 and 2) or parental concern-based aspects (Theme 3 and 4). These themes match previous analyses of marketing content in traditional media and should be closely monitored due to the personalized nature of consumer social media interactions.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8345376
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-83453762021-08-07 Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging Dearlove, Trish Begley, Andrea Scott, Jane Anne Devenish-Coleman, Gemma Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The digital marketing of commercial complementary foods (CCF) is an emerging area of concern in Australia. Although research into traditional methods has identified a range of problems, the marketing and messaging strategies employed within digital spaces have gone largely unscrutinized. This study sought to examine the methods used by CCF manufacturers to promote Australian baby foods and brands in a digital space. A multiple step approach was used to assess the CCF brands available in major Australian retailers, the social media platforms they used, and to thematically analyze the text and visual messages contained in posts published over a three-month period. Of the 15 brands identified, 12 had a digital presence, and all of these used Facebook. Four themes emerged from an analysis of 216 Facebook posts; (1) general product attributes, (2) socially desirable attributes (which included messaging related to taste (41%), self-feeding (29%) and fun (19%)), (3) concern-based attributes (including organic status (40%), age targets (39%) and additive-/allergen-free status (18%)) and (4) health-focused attributes (which included messaging related to healthy/nutritious ingredients (45%), and child development/growth (15%). Messages contained in Facebook posts were mostly positive brand/product aspects (Themes 1 and 2) or parental concern-based aspects (Theme 3 and 4). These themes match previous analyses of marketing content in traditional media and should be closely monitored due to the personalized nature of consumer social media interactions. MDPI 2021-07-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8345376/ /pubmed/34360227 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157934 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Dearlove, Trish
Begley, Andrea
Scott, Jane Anne
Devenish-Coleman, Gemma
Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging
title Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging
title_full Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging
title_fullStr Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging
title_full_unstemmed Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging
title_short Digital Marketing of Commercial Complementary Foods in Australia: An Analysis of Brand Messaging
title_sort digital marketing of commercial complementary foods in australia: an analysis of brand messaging
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8345376/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34360227
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157934
work_keys_str_mv AT dearlovetrish digitalmarketingofcommercialcomplementaryfoodsinaustraliaananalysisofbrandmessaging
AT begleyandrea digitalmarketingofcommercialcomplementaryfoodsinaustraliaananalysisofbrandmessaging
AT scottjaneanne digitalmarketingofcommercialcomplementaryfoodsinaustraliaananalysisofbrandmessaging
AT devenishcolemangemma digitalmarketingofcommercialcomplementaryfoodsinaustraliaananalysisofbrandmessaging