Abstract
This research paper explores six video advertisements from the President’s Choice “Crave More” campaign through the lens of food ethics and storytelling in advertising. A qualitative content analysis was used to code each of the videos for frequencies of ethical food tropes, and a storytelling framework was then applied to analyze how these tropes work together to position President’s Choice as an ethical brand. The findings suggest that President’s Choice uses tropes of food traceability, the place and production process of food, and images of food in its natural form and as an ingredient to convey messages of ethics to the food buying public. The advertisements use narration to allow for food to shine as the main character in the video, while human characters such as President’s Choice employees and farmers are considered supplementary to food. Ultimately, this paper posits that President’s Choice uses ethical food tropes to deconstruct the production process of food for the consumer in order to create an image that depicts the brand as “ethical”.
Highlights
Today’s food shoppers face an overwhelming array of choices as they navigate the increasingly complex global foodscape
Videos that used the majority of the ethical food product appeals, corporate social responsibility claims and visual appeals combined were Make the Cut and that used twelve out of fifteen possible tropes, while Inspiration from Anywhere and President’s Choice (PC) Olive Oil both used eleven out of fifteen
This paper has aimed to contribute to the growing field of ethical food studies by employing a perspective that focuses on advertising
Summary
Today’s food shoppers face an overwhelming array of choices as they navigate the increasingly complex global foodscape. These concerns and risks are intensified by a system that has alienated consumers from the producers and origins of food (Brom 2000; Coff et al, 2008; Early 2002; Feagan, 2007) In response to these issues, some consumers examine food with a critical eye, intent to understand who produces their food, where it comes from, and what is in it. What’s more, consumers tend to support a variety of ethical causes, not fully understanding that purchasing from the farmer “down the road” takes business away from the farmer across the world, and vice versa This implies that many consumers are looking to support someone or something; they do not necessarily have a strong understanding of how they are affecting change. The Loblaw press release focuses on “the reinvented pc.ca website with custom online community discussions and a regionalized Canadian food-trend tracker in partnership with Google [...] oriented to initiate and host exploration of food trends” (“Canada’s top food brand”, 2014)
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