How Clever Marketing Changes People’s Eating Habits

Annabell
Jan 24, 2022
3 min read

Fast-Food chains have primed us to prefer unhealthy, fast and convenient food over healthy, sustainably and animal-friendly options. In order for the alternative food source industry to thrive, this mindset has to be changed using three very powerful forms of Marketing: Societal Marketing, Behavioral Change Marketing and Influencer Marketing

Meat-less food is on the rise

The healthy food market is on a rise for a couple of years now, with ever more people being cautious about what they eat. We experience meat-free alternatives made from soy, alternative protein sources make from crickets and milk that is no longer made by cows. And while governments, NGOs and start-ups work very hard on improving the planets food supply and try to make the transition as easy and smooth as possible for everyone, there is still a long way to go until environmentally and animal-friendly food is completely established in fridges worldwide.

Adaption is difficult

But why is it that people in most cases still prefer the $4.99 fast-food burger over a healthy, delicious and environmentally friendly meal? It’s because they have seen thousands of thousands of advertisements over the years on television, social media channels, video games and many more. They are primed to prefer easy and cheap food over nutritious and healthy. In addition, most people stick to the eating habits they have grown for tens of years of their life – changing them means real efforts. Especially, if the food source is completely new and not widely accepted like food made from crickets or algae. The taste, texture and related pictures in people’s heads keep them from trying new alternatives which slows down global adoption drastically.

Marketing caused the problem, Marketing can resolve the problem

Fast-food chains and global conglomerates have primed peoples mindsets towards food using marketing. This mindset changed their behavior towards favoring unhealthy food over healthy and sustainable one. Marketing, if used currently, is therefore probably also the only method that is helpful to change this mindset and behavior for the better.

A mixture of three

The solution is a mixture of three Marketing practices: Societal Marketing, Behavioral Change Marketing and Influencer Marketing. Let’s quickly define the differences and goals between them:

Societal Marketing:
1. Goal: Bringing about social change by appealing to peoples’ desire to do good
2. Method: Specifically, it follows three main concerns in the following order:
  1. Human welfare
  2. Consumer needs
  3. Profit
Behavioral Change Marketing:
1. Goal: Making people think and act different from their current behaviour
2. Method: Four main steps are suggested to change people’s behaviours:
  1. Bring awareness to the issue
  2. Influence attitudes about the issue
  3. Create behavioural change (making it as easy as possible)
  4. Change social norms
Influencer Marketing:
1. Goal: Increase brand awareness and build trust in a product, create a desire to buy it
2. Method: Using so-called influencers to post about a product. Because they are trusted by their community, followers will try the product too

What we propose

Now, how can you change your customers eating habits using marketing:

Use the following technique:

Create awareness of the issue using visuals and data related to your topic, e.g. how cows are treated for cheap meat, how many tons of CO2 emissions are released for milk production, etc.
Cooperate with influencers that are important to your target audience and let them start influencing your potential customers in the right way, showing them the difference between what they want (fast, convenient and unhealthy food) and what they need (healthy and environmentally friendly food)
Make your alternative food source as easy to exchange to current food sources as possible: similar preparation, similar look and feel, similar taste and easy to access (location and price)
Have people try your food without them needing to have efforts, e.g. free samples, supermarket stands, cash-back and introduction into fast-food chains, if possible
Once you have the early adopters preferring your food over the unhealthy alternative, have them influence the broader society by encouraging them to give samples to their friends or sponsor dinner parties using your alternative products

Conclusion

Changing people’s eating habits is difficult. Very difficult. However, with the right technique and motivation to change the planet for the better, we believe that you are able to do so. And in case you want to learn even more or want us to help you change the world with the products you created, contact us!

References Bellanger, C. (2020). Influencer marketing and the rise of healthy eating habits. Upfluence. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.upfluence.com/influencer-marketing/influencer-marketing-healthy-food-industry

How can advertisements influence your food choices? (01.22.2020) Center for Nutrition in Schools. UC Davis. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://cns.ucdavis.edu/news/how-can-advertisements-influence-your-food-choices

Wroblewski, M. T. (2019). Examples of Societal Marketing. CHRON. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-societal-marketing-22709.html

Anglin, G. (2019). Understanding the Basic Principles of Behavior Change Marketing. VI Marketing and Branding. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://blog.vimarketingandbranding.com/behavior-change-marketing-fundementals