Is it good for me? A content analysis of the healthiness of foods advertised in magazines

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper used Fooducate product ratings to evaluate the healthiness of food products being advertised in 15 U.S. magazines over a 1-year period (N = 623 food products), and compared those ratings across product categories, magazine genres, types of claims, and the presence of endorsement seals. Novel food rating apps like Fooducate offer scholars the ability to credibly assess food products in analyses of media content. In line with the academic grading scale where “A” is excellent and “D/F” is poor/failing, results indicate an average grade of approximately a “C+” (M = 2.57; SD = 0.80). Products in the ingredient, beverage and food pyramid categories received the highest scores, whereas foods high in fat/sugar, dietary supplements, and prepackaged meals scored significantly lower. Of the five magazine genres explored, health and food magazines featured the healthiest foods while fashion and women’s magazines featured the least healthy. In addition, products making health claims were significantly healthier than products without such claims, supporting their accuracy. Finally, advertisements with endorsement seals had the highest health ratings of any category assessed. Implications based on previous work in food advertising research are discussed, such as the benefit of including this topic in adult nutrition literacy initiatives.