Healthwashing rhetorical tropes in health-positioned packaged goods

Lori Kainu Fischer

doi:10.32920/19159565.v1

Abstract

<div>The current scope of research in consumer-packaged goods has focused primarily on how packaging design is structured to differentiate itself from its competition with the ability to grasp a consumer’s attention in mere seconds. The communicative effects of packaging research span the elements of design as they influence the perception of product attributes and expected consumer experiences. This major research paper explores which elements of packaging design are used in health-positioned products in consumer-packaged goods in Canada and how these elements of design are leveraged to craft a narrative. The framework of packaging design elements and implications from past research is used to support the findings and provide critical</div><div>analysis in conjunction with the content analysis conducted on two well-established health-positioned food brands in Canada, Presidents Choice Free From and Presidents Choice Blue Menu.</div>

Highlights

The following segment will review the findings of the content analysis for the front panel packaging of the Presidents Choice Free From and Presidents Choice Blue Menu line of products
The context of this study includes the impact of these colours specific to the modern Western culture. The results of this content analysis on the President’s Choice Free From and Blue Menu sub-brands illustrate the use of various elements of design to craft a narrative rendering packaging a powerful communicative tool (Underwood, 2001)
Both brands managed to differentiate themselves while serving an underlying message of health and well-being, at varying points on the health spectrum using multiple touch points that contribute to cognitive associations of healthy living

Summary

Introduction

With the combined efforts of marketing, graphic design and engineering, consumer food packaging has evolved well beyond a mechanism for wrapping or protecting goods. Packaging as a communication tool leverages various elements used in design to craft a narrative to inform and persuade (Rundh, 2016) Characteristics such as, colour, image, linguistic choices, and texture are all used in a variety of ways and combinations to represent the brand message, and prompt assumptions that are made on the contents within the packaging, such as the quality, taste, and health of the product. These characteristics are both explicit, such as the actual claims made on packaging and implicit using colours and images to strengthen the connection between the consumer and brand

Methods

Results

Conclusion