Characterising the extent and nature of digital food and beverage marketing in Singapore: a descriptive study

Abstract

Objective: To characterise the nature of digital food and beverage advertising in Singapore.

Setting: Food and beverage advertisements within twenty clicks on the top twelve non-food websites and all posts on the Facebook and Instagram pages of fifteen major food companies in Singapore were sampled from 1 January to 30 June 2018.

Design: Advertised foods were classified as being core (healthier), non-core or mixed dishes (e.g. burger) using the WHO nutrient profile model and national guidelines. Marketing techniques were assessed using published coding frameworks.

Participants: NA.

Results: Advertisements (n 117) on the twelve non-food websites were largely presented as editorial content. Food companies posted twice weekly on average on social media sites (n 1261), with eatery chains posting most frequently and generating the largest amount of likes and shares. Key marketing techniques emphasised non-health attributes, for example, hedonic or convenience attributes (85 % of advertisements). Only a minority of foods and beverages advertised were core foods (non-food website: 16·2 %; social media: 13·5 %).

Conclusions: Top food and beverage companies in Singapore actively use social media as a platform for promotion with a complex array of marketing techniques. A vast majority of these posts were unhealthy highlighting an urgent need to consider regulating digital food and beverage advertising in Singapore.

Keywords: Advertisements; Asian; Food and beverage; Marketing; Online; Social media.

Fig. 1

Flow diagram for the selection of digital media platforms and advertisements. ¹Websites removed included banking websites, subscription websites, etc.