Marketing Nutrition: Soy, Functional Foods, Biotechnology, and Obesity

7. The De-marketing of Obesity

seven The฀De-marketing฀of฀Obesity People want a variety of high-value, tasty foods that they can have in large quantities whenever they want. Years of evolution and learned behavior have led people away from eating foods that are less palatable and less convenient to obtain. This is one reason overeating at McDonald’s is so much easier to do than convincing children to eat broccoli. Although they cater to our biological interests, food companies have recently been accused of contributing to the growing problem of obesity in the United States. Because of our basic predisposition toward eating plentiful amounts of sweet and fattening foods, these companies have been accused of responding to a super-sized problem by throwing gasoline on the fire. Marketers are torn between two primary groups of stakeholders. One group consists of consumers who want a variety of tasty, inexpensive, convenient food, and the other consists of concerned public policy officials and activists who believe that companies should be more responsive in helping combat obesity. With their concern comes the potential threat of boycotts, activism, taxes, fines, restrictions, and legislation. The threat of being the tobacco industry of the new millennium is not trivial for consumer packaged-goods companies and fast-foods firms. Although the situation appears perplexing, there are reasonable solutions .Foodcompaniesandmarketerswhohavesucceededhavedonesoby creating win-win situations for themselves and consumers. They created 07.83-99_Wans.indd฀฀฀85 3/30/05฀฀฀2:53:16฀PM 86 • the health of nations foods and delivery systems that profitably satisfy what consumers want or need. There is no reason to believe that addressing the obesity problem willbe different. Having the motivation to profitably addressthisissue will produce resourceful results, as it has for many other win-win situations in the past. It’s important to realize that a person doesn’t become obese overnight. Eighty percent of the population gains weight because of a calorie excess of less than fifty calories a day; fifty extra calories a day can become a big problem over the long term. Gradual problems seldom have instant solutions. Regardless of how ingenious a solution is, it is not likely to be a quick fix. However, simple steps can be taken to help turn back the tide a few calories at a time. Afterexaminingthreeprinciplesofhumanbehaviorthatleadustothis problem, this chapter outlines the five main drivers of food consumption. I examine each in terms of what smart marketers and motivated companies can do to counter the effect of this driver in a responsible manner. Three฀Principles฀of฀Human฀Behavior฀That฀Cannot฀฀ Be฀Changed A number of contributing factors have made us a more obese culture than we were a century ago: automobiles, computers, cable TV, video games, remote controls, the Internet, and omnipresent convenience stores have all contributed to our lack of energy output. In addition, food-related companies have made it easier and more efficient for us to do our “hunting and gathering,” and they have contributed to greater energy (calorie) input. Companies have followed three key principles related to our moderndayhuntingandgatheringefforts :Consumersseekconvenience,consumers seek variety, and consumers seek (the option of) value. To deny that these tendencies exist is a mistake for both marketers and public policy officials. Consumers฀Seek฀Convenience Innovations throughout time have generally involved reducing the amount of effort it took to move (the wheel), to learn (the printing press), or to communicate (the telephone). This is why new houses have ice makers , dishwashers, and attached garages with garage door openers. It also explains why people often prefer driving to walking or biking. When 07.83-99_Wans.indd฀฀฀86 3/30/05฀฀฀2:53:16฀PM The฀De-marketing฀of฀Obesity • 87 people do prefer to walk (as in New York City) or bike (as in Amsterdam), it is because it is easier or less effortful than the alternatives. This desire to follow the path of least effort results in a number of changes to our food distribution system that are market driven but also make the environment fat-friendly. Therefore, we get convenient packaging that is easy to open, a wide availability of vending machines, and fast-food restaurants on convenient corners. We get the chance to buy foods instead of having to prepare them. Consumers฀Seek฀Variety฀and฀Choice In response to our desire for variety, we get brand extensions and new flavors. This desire for variety motivates new product innovations that include healthful alternatives...