Elsevier

Preventive Medicine

Volume 81, December 2015, Pages 168-173
Preventive Medicine

Supermarkets and unhealthy food marketing: An international comparison of the content of supermarket catalogues/circulars

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.08.023Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Unhealthy foods were heavily promoted in circulars from leading supermarket chains in all regions of the world.

  • Only circulars from the Philippines and India promoted substantially more healthy than unhealthy foods.

  • The front pages of circulars promoted healthier products than the total circular content.

  • Efforts to reduce promotion of unhealthy foods need to include supermarket circulars.

Abstract

Background

Supermarket marketing activities have a major influence on consumer food purchases. This study aimed to assess and compare the contents of supermarket marketing circulars from a range of countries worldwide from an obesity prevention perspective.

Methods

The contents of supermarket circulars from major supermarket chains in 12 non-random countries were collected and analysed over an eight week period from July to September 2014 (n = 89 circulars with 12,563 food products). Circulars were largely English language and from countries representing most continents. Food products in 25 sub-categories were categorised as discretionary or non-discretionary (core) food or drinks based on the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. The total number of products in each subcategory in the whole circular, and on front covers only, was calculated.

Results

Circulars from most countries advertised a high proportion of discretionary foods. The only exceptions were circulars from the Philippines (no discretionary foods) and India (11% discretionary food). Circulars from six countries advertised more discretionary foods than core foods. Front covers tended to include a much greater proportion of healthy products than the circulars overall.

Conclusions

Supermarket circulars in most of the countries examined include a high percentage of discretionary foods, and therefore promote unhealthy eating behaviours that contribute to the global obesity epidemic. A clear opportunity exists for supermarket circulars to promote rather than undermine healthy eating behaviours of populations. Governments need to ensure that supermarket marketing is included as part of broader efforts to restrict unhealthy food marketing.

Introduction

Unhealthy diets and excess body weight are the key risk factors for the development of major nutrition related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, several cancers, dental disease and osteoporosis (World Health Organization, 2015a, World Health Organization, 2015b).

An increase in the consumption of energy dense, nutrient poor foods and drinks, coupled with low consumption of fruits and vegetables, has been apparent in high-income countries over the past several decades. This dietary pattern is also now common in low- and middle-income countries with a shift from traditional to westernised diets over the past two decades being accompanied by the rapid rise of large supermarket chains (Harvard, 2015, Hoffman, 2013, Thornton et al., 2013). China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Thailand and Vietnam have experienced the fastest growth in the share of supermarket chains, growing from 5%–10% in 1990 to 50% or more by 2009 (The Crawford Fund, 2011).

Supermarkets serve as an interface between consumers and the food system, with their marketing techniques acknowledged as an important influence on food choices and consumer purchasing behaviours (Clarke et al., 2006, Hawkes, 2008, dos Santos, 2013, Govindasamy et al., 2007). Hard copy (distributed) and online circulars are a very common and powerful form of marketing, reaching large populations of consumers worldwide (dos Santos, 2013). A study from New Jersey found that 72% of people read food circular advertisements (Govindasamy et al., 2007). Previous studies in this area have consistently found supermarket circulars to contain a high proportion of discretionary food products and a low proportion of fruit and vegetables, with the contents of supermarket circulars not meeting national dietary recommendations and instead reflecting the poor dietary patterns of most populations (Thornton et al., 2013, Jahns et al., 2014, Gallo, 1999, Martin-Biggers et al., 2013, Ethan et al., 2013, Ravensbergen et al., 2015).

Most studies of the ‘healthiness’ of supermarket circulars have been limited to assessment of products on the front page only, and there have been no studies outside Europe, North America and Australia. Here, we aimed to assess the ‘healthiness’ of the entire content of supermarket circulars from the leading chains in a range of high- and middle-income countries worldwide.

Section snippets

Circular collection

Circulars from 12 countries (Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America) were collected over an 8 week period by two authors from July through to September 2014. Non-random countries were selected based upon the online availability of weekly circulars and the absence of significant language or interpretation barriers. An attempt was made to include countries from all continents, although no

Results

A total of 89 circulars across 13 stores from 12 countries were analysed (Table 1). This comprised 15 for Australia (7 Coles, 8 Woolworths), 8 each for Canada (Loblaws), Hong Kong (Park ‘n’ Shop), India (Star Bazaar), the United Kingdom (UK) (Asda) and the United States (US) (Kroger), 7 for New Zealand (New World) and Singapore (Fairprice), 6 for Sweden (Hemköp), 5 for Malaysia (Giant) and South Africa and 4 for the Philippines (SM Supermarket). 12,563 food products were analysed from a total

Discussion

This research provides an international comparison of the content of marketing circulars from the market leading supermarket in 12 countries worldwide. Discretionary foods were found to be heavily promoted in all regions of the world, with circulars from the Philippines and India being the only exceptions. Few stores included a high proportion of core foods such as fruits, vegetables and grains in their circulars. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the circular content of

Conclusion

Results from this international study show that supermarket circulars in most countries include a high percentage of discretionary foods. This is inconsistent with recommendations for a healthy diet and promotes the unhealthy eating behaviours that contribute to the global obesity epidemic. A clear opportunity exists for supermarket circulars to promote rather than undermine healthy eating behaviours of populations. At a local level, health promotion activities should include discussions with

Conflicts of interest

AC, GS and EC are the academic partners on a supermarket intervention trial that includes Australian local government and supermarket retail (IGA) collaborators.

The following are the supplementary materials related to this article.

. Mean percent (95% CI) of discretionary food products included in circular.

Acknowledgments

Role of authors: AC was responsible for the initiation of the study (the concept), and with EC, LK and GS was responsible for the study design and sampling methods. EC and LK were responsible for data collection and with AC were responsible for data analysis. All authors contributed to drafting the paper and critical revisions prior to submission for publication. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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  • Cited by (0)

    Financial support: This work was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) [training fellowship APP1013313 to AC; AC and GS are researchers within an NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Obesity Policy and Food Systems (APP1041020)].

    1

    These authors contributed equally.

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