Food Marketing Practices Research Articles

Unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children on digital platforms in Aotearoa, New Zealand

BackgroundChildren’s exposure to unhealthy food and beverage marketing has a direct impact on their dietary preference for, and consumption of, unhealthy food and drinks. Most children spend time online, yet marketing restrictions for this medium have had slow uptake globally. A voluntary Children’s and Young People’s Advertising (CYPA) Code was implemented in Aotearoa, New Zealand (NZ) in 2017. This study explores the Code’s limitations in protecting children from harmful food and beverage marketing practices on digital platforms accessible to children.MethodsA cross-sectional content analysis of company websites (n = 64), Facebook pages (n = 32), and YouTube channels (n = 15) of the most popular food and beverage brands was conducted between 2019 and 2021 in NZ. Brands were selected based on market share, web traffic analysis and consumer engagement (Facebook page ‘Likes’ and YouTube page views). Analysis focused on volume and type of food posts/videos, level of consumer interaction, nutritional quality of foods pictured (based on two different nutrient profile models), and use of specific persuasive marketing techniques.ResultsEighty-one percent of websites (n = 52) featured marketing of unhealthy food and beverages. Thirty-five percent of websites featuring unhealthy food and beverages used promotional strategies positioning their products as ‘for kids’; a further 13% used ‘family-oriented’ messaging. Several websites featuring unhealthy products also had designated sections for children, ‘advergaming,’ or direct messaging to children. Eighty-five percent of all food and drink company Facebook posts and YouTube videos were classified as unhealthy. Twenty-eight percent of Facebook posts for unhealthy products featured persuasive promotional strategies, and 39% premium offers. Nearly 30% of YouTube videos for unhealthy food and beverages featured promotional strategies, and 13% premium offers. Ten percent of Facebook posts and 13% of YouTube videos of unhealthy food and beverages used marketing techniques specifically targeting children and young people.ConclusionsThe voluntary CYPA Code has been in effect since 2017, but the inherent limitations and loopholes in the Code mean companies continue to market unhealthy food and beverages in ways that appeal to children even if they have committed to the Code. Comprehensive and mandatory regulation would help protect children from exposure to harmful marketing.

Food Marketing Practices of Major Online Grocery Retailers in the United States, 2019-2020.

Food marketing influences consumers' preferences for and selection of marketed products. Although a substantial body of research has described food-marketing practices in brick-and-mortar stores, no research has examined food marketing in online grocery retail despite its growing importance as a source of food-at-home purchases. To develop and apply a coding instrument to describe food marketing and the nutritional quality of marketed products in online grocery stores. Quantitative content analysis and review of product Nutrition Facts labels and ingredients lists to calculate nutrient density and level of processing using the NOVA classification system. Foods and beverages (n= 3,473) marketed in the top revenue-generating online grocery retailers and those participating in the US Department of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Online Purchasing Pilot (n= 21) in 2019-2020. Use of marketing mix strategies (ie, product, placement, promotion, and pricing) across retailers and nutritional quality of marketed products. Products were considered of poor nutritional quality in the case that they were ultraprocessed (NOVA category 4) and excessive in sodium, saturated fat, free sugars, and/or other sweeteners. Products were also classified into 13 mutually exclusive food groups. The proportion of retailers using each marketing strategy, proportion of products of poor nutritional quality, and proportion of products in each food group were calculated. Retailers commonly used product recommendations, search result ordering, branded website content, user-generated content, and social media engagement to market products online. Candy, sweets, and snacks made up the largest percentage of marketed products (17.3%), followed by fruit, vegetables, and legumes (16.7%). Most (62%) marketed products were of poor nutritional quality. Staple food categories such as fruits, vegetables, and grains were frequently marketed, particularly through price reductions and product recommendations. Online grocery retailers use a variety of customizable food marketing strategies on their websites. Although most marketed products are of poor nutritional quality, there is potential for marketing of staple food categories online that is not feasible in a brick-and-mortar store.

Designing legislative responses to restrict children’s exposure to unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverage marketing: a case study analysis of Chile, Canada and the United Kingdom

IntroductionIntroducing legislation that restricts companies from exposing children to marketing of unhealthy food and beverage products is both politically and technically difficult. To advance the literature on the technical design of food marketing legislation, and to support governments around the world with legislative development, we aimed to describe the legislative approach from three governments.MethodsA multiple case study methodology was adopted to describe how three governments approached designing comprehensive food marketing legislation (Chile, Canada and the United Kingdom). A conceptual framework outlining best practice design principles guided our methodological approach to examine how each country designed the technical aspects of their regulatory response, including the regulatory form adopted, the substantive content of the laws, and the implementation and governance mechanisms used. Data from documentary evidence and 15 semi-structured key informant interviews were collected and synthesised using a directed content analysis.ResultsAll three countries varied in their legislative design and were therefore considered of variable strength regarding the legislative elements used to protect children from unhealthy food marketing. When compared against the conceptual framework, some elements of best practice design were present, particularly relating to the governance of legislative design and implementation, but the scope of each law (or proposed laws) had limitations. These included: the exclusion of brand marketing; not protecting children up to age 18; focusing solely on child-directed marketing instead of all marketing that children are likely to be exposed to; and not allocating sufficient resources to effectively monitor and enforce the laws. The United Kingdom’s approach to legislation is the most comprehensive and more likely to meet its regulatory objectives.ConclusionsOur synthesis and analysis of the technical elements of food marketing laws can support governments around the world as they develop their own food marketing restrictions. An analysis of the three approaches illustrates an evolution in the design of food marketing laws over time, as well as the design strengths offered by a legislative approach. Opportunities remain for strengthening legislative responses to protect children from unhealthy food marketing practices.

Comparing McDonald’s food marketing practices on official Instagram accounts across 15 countries

BackgroundSocial media advertising by fast food companies continues to increase globally, and exposure to food advertising contributes to poor diet and negative health outcomes (eg, cardiovascular disease). McDonald’s—the largest fast...

Food labeling effects in marketing

<p id="p00005">As a tool to convey food-related information to consumers, food labels can effectively solve the problem of information asymmetry in food consumption. With the popularization of food labels in practice, more and more scholars have begun to pay attention to the impact of different food labels on consumer behavior. However, most of the existing studies focus on a single food label type and its effects, lacking of comparison and discussion on the effects of different food labels and their inherent mechanisms and boundary conditions. Based on this, this paper reviews the research on food labels in the field of marketing, which focuses on how different types of food labels affect individuals' cognition, emotion and behavior. Meanwhile, this paper introduces the regulatory orientation theory to explain the different effects of different food labels, and on this basis, a more integrated food label effect framework is constructed in this paper. <p id="p00005">Through combing the existing literature, the existing research on food labeling has roughly underwent three stages. The first stage began in the early 1980s. The demand for the nutritional value of food led to the attention and research on the nutrition label. The second stage started around 2000. Scholars mainly focus on labels that can convey information about food safety and quality. In the third stage, in the last decade, eco-environmental labels attracted more attention from consumers and scholars. Based on the different levels of information coverage, food labels can be divided into two types: product-level labels and ingredient-level labels. The product-level label refers to the label which is used to explain the overall characteristics and quality information of the food (including date label, health warning label, organic label, natural label, brand information, genetically modified organism label, eco label, and fair trade label). However, the ingredient-level label refers to the label that is used to display the specific nutritional information of the food (including nutrition facts panel, GDA label, low-fat label, health claim, traffic light label, health star rating, calorie menu label, shelf label). <p id="p00005">Further analysis and comparison showed that different types of food labels differ in influencing results, mechanism of action, and boundaries. Specifically, the product-level labels can arouse consumers' perceptions of safety, risk, and morality, and can effectively increase consumers' trust in products. At the same time, after purchasing products with such labels, consumers will show more food waste and repeated purchases. Ingredient-level labels, on the other hand, mainly affects consumers' perceptions of product health, as well as subsequent food choices and food intake. The theory of regulatory orientation helps to explain the different effects of the two types of food labels. The product-level labels more often initiate consumer preventive orientation, while the ingredient-level labels activate consumer promotion orientation. In addition, the two types of food labeling effects are driven by the halo effect, information processing, conceptual metaphor, social identity, attribute inference and other mechanisms. Besides, these effects are moderated by social demographic factors, individual differences, and product characteristics. <p id="p00005">On the one hand, combing and commenting on the effects of different food labels can provide reference for food manufacturers to carry out food marketing practices. On the other hand, through the construction of food label research framework in the field of marketing, it can point out the context and direction for marketing scholars to carry out empirical research on food label. Based on the overall framework of food labeling effects constructed in this paper, we propose that further research on the topic of food label can be carried out from following aspects in the future: (1) Expanding the behavioral results of ingredient-level labels; (2) Expanding the behavioral results of product-level labels; (3) Exploring the impact of different food label presentation forms on consumers; (4) Expanding the outer packaging labels and related research; and (5) Exploring the reversal mechanism of the negative effects of food labels.

Black Community Conversations About Opposing Ethnically Targeted Marketing of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages.

Efforts to reduce disparities in obesity prevalence affecting Black Americans are having limited success. One reason for this may be the disproportionate, ethnically targeted marketing of foods and beverages high in fat and sugar (FBHFS) to Black consumers. Such marketing promotes high consumption of FBHFS, leading to excess caloric intake and unintentional weight gain. We convened focus groups with Black men and women (total n = 57) in collaboration with community groups in three localities to elicit their views, as consumers and parents/caregivers, about targeted FBHFS marketing and potential ways to combat it. At each location, trained community members facilitated two sets of focus groups: one for adults aged 18 to 25 years and another for adults aged 26 to 55 years who had a 3-to-17-year-old child at home. Each group met twice to discuss food and beverage marketing practices to Black communities and reviewed a booklet about ethnically targeted marketing tactics in between. A directed content analysis of participant comments identified and explored salient themes apparent from initial summarization of results. Results show how parents are concerned with and critical of pervasive FBHFS marketing. In particular, comments emphasize the involvement of Black celebrities in FBHFS marketing—how and why they engage in such marketing and whether this could be shifted towards healthier foods. These findings suggest a potential role for counter marketing efforts focused on Black celebrity endorsements of FBHFS, possibly with a youth focus. They also underscore the need for additional, qualitative exploration of Black consumer views of ethnically targeted FBHFS marketing more generally.

My style, my food, my waste! Consumer food waste-related lifestyle segments

Adapting responsible food marketing practices to different customer types can make a valuable contribution to reducing food waste. The current study investigated the relation between food (waste)-related lifestyle patterns and self-reported food waste, choices for suboptimal food, and food waste awareness using a survey with 4214 consumers across five Northern and Western European countries. Results show differences in food wastage, suboptimal choices, and awareness for five clusters of consumers identified on the basis of food (waste)-related lifestyle patterns. Findings of commonalities allow deriving food marketing actions targeted to these different consumer lifestyles.

State-Level Guidance and District-Level Policies and Practices for Food Marketing in US School Districts.

State agencies play a critical role in providing school districts with guidance and technical assistance on school nutrition issues, including food and beverage marketing practices. We examined associations between state-level guidance and the policies and practices in school districts regarding food and beverage marketing and promotion. State policy guidance was positively associated with districts prohibiting advertisements for junk food or fast food restaurants on school property. Technical assistance from states was negatively associated with 2 district practices to restrict marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages, but positively associated with 1 practice to promote healthy options. These findings may help inform the guidance that states provide to school districts and help identify which districts may need additional assistance to address marketing and promotion practices.

Complementary Hypotheses on Contributors to the Obesity Epidemic.

Increased rates of obesity have occurred within virtually every race, age, sex, ethnicity, and economic group. Despite substantial punditry on the issue, the exact reasons are incompletely known. The two most common factors cited as contributing to the obesity epidemic and those whose causal influence on increasing obesity levels in the population are often presumed unequivocally, are food marketing practices and institutionally-driven reductions in physical activity. Previously, we have taken to calling these “the big two.” In this commentary, we build on previous writings in this area to introduce additional factors that may contribute to the obesity epidemic. Here we simply emphasize that there may be other factors working in combination with “the big two,” influencing body fatness through effects on energy intake, energy expenditure, and/or nutrient partitioning.

Food and Beverage Marketing in Schools: A Review of the Evidence.

Despite growing interest from government agencies, non-governmental organizations and school boards in restricting or regulating unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children, limited research has examined the emerging knowledge base regarding school-based food and beverage marketing in high-income countries. This review examined current approaches for measuring school food and beverage marketing practices, and evidence regarding the extent of exposure and hypothesized associations with children’s diet-related outcomes. Five databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINAHL, Embase, and PsycINFO) and six grey literature sources were searched for papers that explicitly examined school-based food and beverage marketing policies or practices. Twenty-seven papers, across four high-income countries including Canada (n = 2), Ireland (n = 1), Poland (n = 1) and United States (n = 23) were identified and reviewed. Results showed that three main methodological approaches have been used: direct observation, self-report surveys, and in-person/telephone interviews, but few studies reported on the validity or reliability of measures. Findings suggest that students in the U.S. are commonly exposed to a broad array of food and beverage marketing approaches including direct and indirect advertising, although the extent of exposure varies widely across studies. More pervasive marketing exposure was found among secondary or high schools compared with elementary/middle schools and among schools with lower compared with higher socio-economic status. Three of five studies examining diet-related outcomes found that exposure to school-based food and beverage marketing was associated with food purchasing or consumption, particularly for minimally nutritious items. There remains a need for a core set of standard and universal measures that are sufficiently rigorous and comprehensive to assess the totality of school food and beverage marketing practices that can be used to compare exposure between study contexts and over time. Future research should examine the validity of school food and beverage marketing assessments and the impacts of exposure (and emerging policies that reduce exposure) on children’s purchasing and diet-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in school settings.

Differences in Food and Beverage Marketing Policies and Practices in US School Districts, by Demographic Characteristics of School Districts, 2012.

IntroductionFoods and beverages marketed in schools are typically of poor nutritional value. School districts may adopt policies and practices to restrict marketing of unhealthful foods and to promote healthful choices. Students’ exposure to marketing practices differ by school demographics, but these differences have not yet been examined by district characteristics.MethodsWe analyzed data from the 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study to examine how food and beverage marketing and promotion policies and practices varied by district characteristics such as metropolitan status, size, and percentage of non-Hispanic white students.ResultsMost practices varied significantly by district size: a higher percentage of large districts than small or medium-sized districts restricted marketing of unhealthful foods and promoted healthful options. Compared with districts whose student populations were majority (>50%) non-Hispanic white, a higher percentage of districts whose student populations were minority non-Hispanic white (≤50% non-Hispanic white) prohibited advertising of soft drinks in school buildings and on school grounds, made school meal menus available to students, and provided families with information on school nutrition programs. Compared with suburban and rural districts, a higher percentage of urban districts prohibited the sale of soft drinks on school grounds and used several practices to promote healthful options. ConclusionPreliminary findings showing significant associations between district demographics and marketing policies and practices can be used to help states direct resources, training, and technical assistance to address food and beverage marketing and promotion to districts most in need of improvement.

Comparative practices of food label claims from US, EU and selected Southeast Asian countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to fulfil gaps in knowledge regarding food packaging practices in Southeast Asia by examining the informational content of food labels on a variety of packaged foods. Design/methodology/approach – Using local and imported food products found in supermarkets in Singapore, a quantitative content analysis of food label claims in a wide range of packaged food products was conducted. A codebook was developed to capture the attributes of the food labels and claims, content categories, product names, food categories, sources of manufacture and countries of brand origin. The three main regions of analysis of country of manufacture were the USA, European Union (EU) and Southeast Asia. Findings – Analysis of food products manufactured in five Southeast Asian countries revealed the presence of various claims in food products, and a number of specific claims exceeded the percentages found in products from the USA or EU. The results showed that a significant proportion of products from Southeast Asian countries display nutrient content and nutrient function claims, as well as general marketing claims and non-nutrient claims. However, there were variations in practice amongst the five Southeast Asian countries. Research limitations/implications – The sample was limited in being collected from one geographic location. Future research needs to expand data collection both geographically and longitudinally. Practical implications – The findings are valuable for the national health authorities in addressing policies on food package labelling, and homogenization efforts pertaining to regional/international labelling policies. These in turn could influence food marketing practices. Social implications – The findings are useful in crafting educational programming and guidelines for health and nutrition education. Originality/value – This research is the first to explore food labelling practices in multiple Southeast Asian countries and compare them cross-sectionally with EU and US practices.

An accountability evaluation for the industry's responsible use of brand mascots and licensed media characters to market a healthy diet to American children.

Corporate strategies that target children are controversial given the link between food marketing and childhood obesity. This case study explored diverse stakeholders' accountability expectations and actions for industry policies and practices that used popular cartoon brand mascots and media characters to promote food products to American children. We reviewed five electronic databases and Internet sources between January 2000 and January 2015. Evidence (n = 90) was selected based upon the Institute of Medicine's LEAD principles (i.e. locate, evaluate, assemble evidence to inform decisions) and organized into two tables: peer-reviewed articles, books and grey-literature reports (n = 34); and media stories, news releases and public testimony (n = 56). A four-step accountability framework was used to evaluate accountability structures. The results showed that moderate progress was achieved by stakeholders to take and share the account, limited progress to hold industry and government to account, and limited progress to strengthen accountability structures. Between 2006 and 2015, the U.S. Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative lacked clear policies for companies to use brand mascots and media characters on food packages, in merchandising, and as toy giveaways and premiums. Government, industry and civil society can substantially strengthen their accountability for these food marketing practices to ensure healthy food environments for children.

A Q methodology study of stakeholders’ views about accountability for promoting healthy food environments in England through the Responsibility Deal Food Network

In March 2011, the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Government launched five Public Health Responsibility Deal Networks to address public health priorities. The Networks used voluntary partnerships to influence peoples’ choice architecture to move them toward healthier behaviors. The purpose of this research was to conduct an exploratory study of diverse stakeholders’ perspectives about perceived responsibility and accountability expectations to improve food environments in England through the Food Network partnerships. A purposive sample of policy elites (n=31) from government, academia, food industry and non-government organizations sorted 48 statements related to improving food environments in England. Statements were grounded in three theoretical perspectives (i.e., legitimacy, nudge and public health law). PQMethod 2.33 statistical software program used factor analysis to identify viewpoints based on intra-individual differences for how participants sorted statements. The results revealed three distinct viewpoints, which explained 64% of the variance for 31 participants, and emphasized different expectations about responsibility. The food environment protectors (n=17) underscored government responsibility to address unhealthy food environments if voluntary partnerships are ineffective; the partnership pioneers (n=12) recognized government–industry partnerships as legitimate and necessary to address unhealthy food environments; and the commercial market defenders (n=1) emphasized individual responsibility for food choices and rejected government intervention to improve food environments. Consensus issues included: protecting children’s right to health; food industry practices that can and should be changed; government working with industry on product reformulation; and building consumer support for economically viable healthy products. Contentious issues were: inadequacy of accountability structures and government inaction to regulate food marketing practices targeting children. We conclude that understanding different viewpoints is a step toward building mutual trust to strengthen accountability structures that may help stakeholders navigate ideologically contentious issues to promote healthy food environments in England.

No Taste for Health: How Tastes are Being Manipulated to Favour Foods that are not Conducive to Health and Wellbeing

No Taste for Health: How Tastes are Being Manipulated to Favour Foods that are not Conducive to Health and Wellbeing

Consumer response to retail performance of organic food retailers

Purpose – Understanding how retail performance can reduce risk perceptions and influence behavioral intentions remains a key issue for researchers. Consumer evaluations of a retailer's performance may form their risk perceptions and positive behavioral intentions toward the retailer. This study aims to extend previous research by proposing an integrative model that examines how three retail performance dimensions (product quality, service quality, and price fairness) influence consumer trust, risk perceptions, and repatronage intentions in the context of organic food retailing. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical data were collected from face-to-face interviews guided by a structural questionnaire. Consumers of organic food retailers located in Taiwan were asked to participate in the research and 416 usable questionnaires were collected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) through LISREL 8.70 was used to analyze the data. Findings – Results show that both product quality and price fairness have direct effects on consumer trust, risk perceptions, and indirect effects (through trust in retailer and transaction risk perceptions) on the intent to revisit an organic food retailer. Service quality only affects consumer trust directly, but not perceived transaction risk. In addition, service quality does not have a significant indirect effect on revisit intention. Originality/value – This study is the first to research essential issues for understanding the role of retail performance dimensions on transaction risk perceptions in organic food marketing practices in Taiwan.

Caregiver and Adolescent Responses to Food and Beverage Marketing Exposures Through an Online Survey

The Institute of Medicine noted that current food and beverage marketing practices promote unhealthful diets. However, little public health research has been conducted on food marketing directed toward adolescents, especially using caregiver- and adolescent-reported data. We assessed perceived frequency of food/beverage advertising exposure and common locations of food/beverage marketing exposure for adolescents using 2012 Summer ConsumerStyles and YouthStyles survey data on US adults ≥18 years of age and their children ages 12-17 (n=847), respectively. Exposure to advertisements for fast food, soda, fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, and bottled water were categorized as <1 time/week, 1-6 times/week, and ≥1 time/day, and don't know. Weighted chi-square tests were used to examine the difference between caregivers' and adolescents' responses. The majority of caregivers and adolescents reported that adolescents viewed advertisements ≥1 time/day across all food/beverage categories with the highest, at least daily, exposure reported for fast food. Caregivers more frequently reported that adolescents viewed all food/beverage advertisements ≥1 time/day than the adolescents reported (chi-square tests, p<0.0001). Both caregivers and adolescents reported that the adolescents view food/beverage marketing most frequently on television followed by at the supermarket. Our study showed that adolescents reported lower frequency of food and beverage advertising exposure than their caregivers. Further research may be needed to verify self-reported exposure data on food and beverage advertising as a way to obtain data for use in research on its relationship with diet quality and obesity.

New Strategies To Improve Food Marketing To Children

Federal efforts to address the impact of food marketing on children began more than thirty years ago, when the Federal Trade Commission sought comment on strategies to reduce young children's exposure to food advertising. The food, advertising, and television industries mounted a virulent response, and Congress withdrew the commission's authority to regulate unfair advertising to children. The same industries and Congress responded equally aggressively to the proposed nutrition criteria for food products marketed to children drafted by a working group of federal agencies in 2011. Although federal efforts over the past thirty years have led to modest improvements in food quality and marketing practices, commercial interests have consistently overridden the health concerns of children. Mobilization of parents as a political force to improve standards for food marketed to children, use of social media for counteradvertising, and the development of new technologies to decrease exposure to food advertisements could reduce the impact of food marketing to children.

The influence of parental styles on children's consumption

PurposeThis study aims to examine parental styles based on levels of nurturing and authoritarianism to determine mothers' awareness of children's media exposure, likelihood of setting media and consumption limits and communications with children about commercial messages.Design/methodology/approachThe research design included a survey aimed at mothers of children ages four‐eight. The researchers collected demographic, behavioral and consumption information regarding the mother's youngest child.FindingsThe results suggest that nurturing mothers are more aware of advertising aimed at children and talk more to children regarding advertising and consumption than authoritarian mothers. Mothers who are nurturing and not authoritarian are more likely to yield to requests and favor more regulation than other parents.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is based on a convenience sample of mothers who were willing to provide confidential personal information about their children.Practical implicationsFrom a marketer's perspective, nurturing mothers represent a barrier to reaching children with persuasive messages. Such mothers not only limit access, but train children to be skeptical of advertising. Marketers who deal honestly with customers will be more successful in appealing to nurturing mothers and their market‐savvy children.Social implicationsFor public policy makers, distinctions in parental style can be useful in developing and promoting policy regulating food marketing practices. Nurturing mothers are more supportive of regulation than are authoritarian mothers, and efforts to promote such regulation should target nurturing mothers. The factors that influence mothers to intervene and limit children's media and consumption behavior also affect attitudes toward regulation of food‐related advertising.Originality/valueThe paper is the first to examine mothers' parental styles and attitudes toward regulation and tie together attitudes toward consumption and policy with the same sample.

Does food marketing need to make us fat? A review and solutions

Food marketing is often singled out as the leading cause of the obesity epidemic. The present review examines current food marketing practices to determine how exactly they may be influencing food intake, and how food marketers could meet their business objectives while helping people eat healthier. Particular attention is paid to the insights provided by recently published studies in the areas of marketing and consumer research, and those insights are integrated with findings from studies in nutrition and related disciplines. The review begins with an examination of the multiple ways in which 1) food pricing strategies and 2) marketing communication (including branding and food claims) bias food consumption. It then describes the effects of newer and less conspicuous marketing actions, focusing on 3) packaging (including the effects of package design and package-based claims) and 4) the eating environment (including the availability, salience, and convenience of food). Throughout, this review underscores the promising opportunities that food manufacturers and retailers have to make profitable “win-win” adjustments to help consumers eat better.