Roi Aldric Trawon

Michael Lindsay-Chiappini

English 150

April 8, 2017

Annotated Bibliography

Advertisement has blown up in the last decade especially with the advent of social media,

YouTube, and other online websites. Has food advertisement actually changed or modified our food

preferences? Either for the worse or for the better? Or has it only chose reinforced our usual

preferences but with a branding attached to it.

I want to study how and did advertisement, social and mass media affected peoples food

preferences and possibly the diet. Because I want to find out the subconscious psychological effects of

advertisement and mass media on our eating behavior. In order to help understand how these

companies manipulate people into eating unhealthy, calorie-dense, low-nutrient food. So that readers

may be conscious and avoid this companys life-long effect on our health.

1. Harris, Jennifer, John Bargh and Kelly Brownell. "Priming Effects of Television Food Advertising

on Eating Behavior." Health Psychology (2009): 404-413.

Harris, Bargh and Brownells article did experiments did two separate experiments with

elementary-school aged children and adults on the effects of TV advertisement on eating conduct.

Children consumed 45% more [snack foods] when exposed to food advertising. Adults consumed more

of both healthy and unhealthy snack foods following exposure to snack food advertising compared to

the other conditions. In both experiments, food advertising increased consumption of products not in
the presented advertisements, and these effects were not related to reported hunger or other

conscious influences.

This is concrete scientific evidence to show how and what exactly is the psychological effect of

TV advertisements on our eating behaviors. Food advertisements influence far more than brand

preference alone.

2. Boyland, EJ, et al. "Advertising as a cue to consume: a systematic review and meta-analysis of

the effects of acute exposure to unhealthy food and nonalcoholic beverage advertising on

intake in children and adults." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2016): 519-533.

This study was similar to the first one but this one had a different conclusion. The evidence

suggests that acute exposure to food advertising increases food intake in children but not in adults.

The possible difference in conclusions is that this was a meta-analysis of published studies whereas the

previous study was a newly created experiment specifically for the study.

This makes the argument much more complicated it makes it inconclusive that advertisements do

affect the eating psychology of adults as well as the children. I plan to take an in depth look at the data

collected and analyze such discrepancies in conclusions.

3. Scully M, Wakefield M, Niven P, Chapman, K, et al. "Association between food marketing

exposure and adolescents' food choices and eating behaviors." Appetite (2012): 1-5.

This study had the biggest sample size and had the least control on the experiment. Meaning they

were not conducted in a controlled environment but the 12, 188 Australian students ages 12- 17 were

surveyed. They found out that high commercial TV viewers (greater than 2 hours/day) were more likely

to eat energy-dense, nutrient poor foods. Interestingly non-broadcast media (print, transport, school

food marketing) only affected sweet snack consumption. Therefore, different forms of advertisements
have contrasting effects on eating behavior. This will help me use it as a springboard for other forms of

mainstream advertisements. That the effects are not only confined TV advertising anymore possibly

online advertising has a similar or even a significantly greater impact.

4. Scully, M, H Dixon and Wakefield M. "Association between commercial television exposure and

fast-food consumption among adults." Public Health Nutrition (2009): 105-110.

A survey was conducted on 1495 adults in Australia. They were asked questions to measure the

frequency of fast-food consumption at different meal times and the average daily hours spent

watching commercial television. In this article the results were straightforward, it suggested that

cumulative exposure to television food advertising is linked to adults fast-food consumption. This

could be a contrasting evidence to the second article that showed the lack of evidence of increase

in food intake among adults when exposed to food advertisements.

5. Boswell, Rebecca and Hedy Kober. "Food cue reactivity and craving predict eating and weight

gain: a meta-analytic review." Obesity Reviews (2016): 159-177.

This like the second article is a meta-analysis. Boswell and Kober reviewed the evidence on the

effect of exposure to food cues. Both real food and visual cues like ads and craving on both eating

behavior and weight gain. Cue exposure and the experience of craving significantly influence and

contribute to eating behavior and weight gain. This study encompasses everything I just

referenced to. The root cause of the change in food behavior is the exposure to both real food and

visual cues.