Vollmer 1

Christopher Vollmer
Professor Gantz
A441 Advanced Advertising Strategies
9/14/16
Situation Analysis
There are several factors to consider when viewing the situation of adults
eating too much and not eating healthy. From a macro-environmental view, the
decreasing price of junk food is a major factor that is contributing to the problem.
Additionally, from a micro-environmental view, people consider junk food to taste
better than healthier alternatives due to added fats and sugars. People also have a
problem of not realizing how much they are eating. Another issue is that families in
lower socioeconomic areas or rural areas do not always have access to healthier
alternatives.
In an advertising campaign aimed at twenty-five to fifty-four-year-olds, a
major factor to consider is cost. Young adults who are either just finishing their
college education or have just completed their college education and are looking for
a job typically are on more of a budget than most people. Due to this, it is more
necessary that they cut corners where they can, and food is no exception. One
study found that age predicts the importance of nutrition and weight control (more
important to older persons) as well as cost and convenience (more important to
younger persons) (GLANZ, BASIL, MAIBACH, GOLDBERG, & SNYDER, 1998). In
another study, it was shown that junk food has become about fifteen percent
cheaper than general food (Capacci, Mazzocchi, & Shankar, 2012). Since the price
of junk food is on the decline, young adults will often see it as a way to save money,
as well as a way to cut back on the hassle of cooking, as seen in the study
conducted by Glanz, et. al: The positive relationship between the importance of
convenience and fast-food consumption vs the negative association between
convenience and consumption of fruits and vegetables and breakfast cereal
suggests that people who believe fast food is more convenient than fruits,
vegetables, and breakfast cereals will eat fast food more often (GLANZ, BASIL,
MAIBACH, GOLDBERG, & SNYDER, 1998).
Although the prices of junk food are falling, the promotion of organic foods
may be a way to draw in customers who are looking to save money and feel good
about their food purchasing decisions. An article from the British Food Journal
states: According to MINTEL (2000), the term organic and organic labels have
strong emotional resonance with consumers in terms of personal wellbeing and

Vollmer 2
health and in the wider context of benefits to the environment. In various surveys,
personal health remains a strong motivating factor for the purchase of organic food
(e.g. Datamonitor, 2002) (Padel & Foster, 2005). People today are very concerned
with where their food comes from and how it was handled. Knowing that their food
is organic is often times a deciding factor between one brand and another. The
journal goes on to state: In addition to the structured survey data presented above,
consumer attitudes to organic food have also been explored in a small number of
qualitative studies, mainly outside the UK (e.g. Nielsen et al., 1998; Torjusen et al.,
2001). Similar to the quantitative surveys, reasons for buying organic food revolve
around the issues of health and environmentally sensitive production methods and
are generally contingent on convenience, availability and cost. Naturalness of the
product also emerges as a factor, but is interpreted in a variety of ways, e.g. animal
welfare and nonuse of agrochemicals (Lockie et al., 2002; McEachern and Willock,
2004) (Padel & Foster, 2005). The feel-goodness of buying organic products is
also something that could help increase sales of health foods.
Moving to a micro-environmental view, taste is a major factor to consider
when dealing with health food and junk food. Junk food has been heavily altered to
maximize taste above all else. According to a book written by Michael Moss, a
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times, By concentrating fat, salt
and sugar in products formulated for maximum bliss, Big Food has spent almost a
century distorting the American diet in favor of calorie-dense products whose
consumption pattern has been mirrored by the calamitous rise in obesity rates
(Mowbray, 2013). Because these foods are engineered to make people want more, it
is often difficult to convince people to change their diet and eat something healthy
for a change. According to the same article, Today, Mr. Moss says, the food
companies have boxed themselves in, blessed and saddled with fattening foods that
are so tasty, people cant resist eating them. Healthier formulations of heavily
processed food, he insists, simply dont taste as good (Mowbray, 2013).
Portion control is also something that many adults struggle with when it
comes to eating. Peoples lack of knowledge about how much they are really eating
is something that is very detrimental to the cause of encouraging adults to eat less.
In one survey conducted at ten fast food chains, researchers found that At least
two thirds of all participants underestimated the calorie content of their meals, with
about a quarter underestimating the calorie content by at least 500 calories,

Vollmer 3
Harvards Jason Block and colleagues wrote in the British Medical Journal (Vitals,
2013). The article then goes on to mention: The average U.S. adult needs about
2,000 calories a day, and kids need less. So people were getting more than a third
of their day's calories in a single fast-food visit. And studies show that eating just
100 calories in excess a day can add up to several pounds of extra fat over a year
(Vitals, 2013). This is one reason why obesity is such an issue in todays world.
People simply do not know that they are eating too much.
Those in a lower socioeconomic group also have trouble maintaining a
healthy diet. Access to the resources they need in order to maintain a healthy diet
can oftentimes be an issue. The Food Access Research Atlas offers some insight into
just how many people have limited access to supermarkets due to low
socioeconomic status or distance: One additional measure applies a 0.5-mile
demarcation in urban areas and a 10-mile distance in rural areas. Using this
measure, an estimated 52.5 million people, or 17 percent of the U.S. population,
have low access to a supermarket; A second measure applies a 1.0-mile
demarcation in urban areas and a 20-mile distance in rural areas. Under this
measure, an estimated 16.5 million people, or 5.3 percent of the U.S. population,
have low access to a supermarket; and A slightly more complex measure
incorporates vehicle access directly into the measure, delineating low-income tracts
in which a significant number of households are located far from a supermarket and
do not have access to a vehicle. This measure also includes census tracts with
populations that are so remote, that, even with a vehicle, driving to a supermarket
may be considered a burden due to the great distance. Using this measure, an
estimated 2.1 million households, or 1.8 percent of all households, in low-income
census tracts are far from a supermarket and do not have a vehicle. An additional
0.3 million people are more than 20 miles from a supermarket (Ploeg & Dutko,
2015). It is easy to see how those in a poor socioeconomic status would also be in
poor health. There is also data on the kinds of foods those in lower socioeconomic
standing typically consume: The diet of the lower socioeconomic groups provides
cheap energy from foods such as meat products, full cream milk, fats, sugars,
preserves, potatoes, and cereals but has little intake of vegetables, fruit, and whole
wheat bread. This type of diet is lower in essential nutrients such as calcium, iron,
magnesium, folate, and vitamin C than that of the higher socioeconomic groups
(James, Nelson, Ralph, & Leather, 1997).

Vollmer 4

Vollmer 5
Works Cited
Capacci, S., Mazzocchi, M., & Shankar, B. (2012, April). The regional price of junk
foods relative to healthy foods in the UK: Indirect estimation of a time series,
1997-2009. Retrieved September 17, 2016, from
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/134720/2/Sara_Capacci_Capacci
%20Mazzocchi%20Shankar.pdf
GLANZ, K., BASIL, M., MAIBACH, E., GOLDBERG, J., & SNYDER, D. (1998). Why
Americans eat what they do. Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
98(10), 11181126. doi:10.1016/s0002-8223(98)00260-0
James, W. P. T., Nelson, M., Ralph, A., & Leather, S. (1997). Socioeconomic
determinants of health: The contribution of nutrition to inequalities in health.
BMJ, 314(7093), 15451545. doi:10.1136/bmj.314.7093.1545
Mowbray, S. (2013, March 17). Salt sugar fat by Michael Moss. Books. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/books/salt-sugar-fat-by-michaelmoss.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Padel, S., & Foster, C. (2005). Exploring the gap between attitudes and behaviour.
British Food Journal, 107(8), 606625. doi:10.1108/00070700510611002
Ploeg, M. V., & Dutko, P. (2015, March 11). USDA ERS - food access research Atlas:
Documentation. Retrieved September 17, 2016, from
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-researchatlas/documentation.aspx
Vitals. (2013, May 24). People think theyre eating less than they are, survey finds.
Retrieved September 16, 2016, from
http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/24/18472659-people-think-theyreeating-less-than-they-are-survey-finds?lite

Vollmer 6
SWOT

Strengths
o It feels good to purchase health foods, especially if they are organic.
Weaknesses
o Health foods tend to be more expensive than junk foods.
Opportunities
o Taking advantage of using organic foods would increase people buying
health foods over junk foods.
Threats
o Junk food is widely considered to taste better than health foods due to
o
o

added sugars and fats.

Junk food prices are going down.
People in low socioeconomic standings may have difficulties obtaining
health foods.

Vollmer 7
Problems and Opportunities
P:
O:
P:
O: