Future Thinking | Maximise your messaging impact

With so many conflicting messages around ‘healthy foods’ and associations with weight loss and other health benefits, it’s no wonder that the nation is feeling confused about what to believe.

In 2017, we’re still TRYING to be more healthy and eat a bit better… Half of us say we have tried to be more healthy this year, a rise of 4% on 2016.

But with so much conflicting information about what’s good for us (and what’s not), it’s confusing and we’re not feeling the benefits. Over the past 3 years the number of us who consider our diet to be healthy has reduced from 34% to 28%.

How are we defining health?

We say we’re eating more fruit and vegetables, cooking from scratch more often, interrogating the nutritionals and eating less sugar. But just because we know (some of) what we should and shouldn’t eat, doesn’t make it an easy behaviour change.

While 1 in 5 claim to eat fewer products that contain added sugar, it seems we’re still just as likely to be buying our favourite sweet and savoury snacks and fizzy drinks.

Whilst reducing sugar is a hot topic, the ‘satfat’ baddie, which we’ve continuously heard for decades, is a hard association to shake-off. The consistent messaging and in-store ‘low fat’ prod-ucts help drive familiarity and perceived truth.

For further information please contact

Catherine Elms, Senior Research Director at Future Thinking

catherine.elms@futurethinking.com | +44 (0)3333 208 220

16th May 2017http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/16/health/healthy-foods-confusion-study/

HOW BRANDS CAN WIN IN THE SUGAR VS FAT DEBATE

Defining health is not straight forward and differs by age

The historic “fat = unhealthy” association still persists strongly among the 55+, for whom the message is most familiar.

Perceived knowledge of fat is most clear among the older generation, for whom the message has been consistent and continuous… the continued messaging driving engrained beliefs

– while uncertainty among Millennials is apparent.

Important considerations of healthy food for yourself

Important considerations of healthy food for a child

29

27

24

22

21

Fat

Sugar

All natural

No artificials

Fruit/Veg

55+

23

23

22

22

Calories

Sugar

Fruit/Veg

Fat

16-34

39

25

22

20

17

Sugar

No artificials

All natural

Fruit/Veg

Salt

Under 16

Bad for their teeth Increases their risk of diabetes

Turns into fat in their bodies Makes them hyperactive

At first sight, the ‘sugar is bad’ message is clear for children’s foods

So does this mean the sugar-unhealthy message is impacting? Apparently not! It’s the ‘obvious’ and long-associated dental and hyperactivity results that show increasing concern… Despite the rationale for the Sugar Tax!

Know your consumers and how to communicate with them

It’s important for brands to understand that health has different associations by age and brands need to understand this and be clear on their key messages.

While trying to be more healthy, the younger generations show variation in their interpretation of what healthy means

- focussing on calories and sugar, rather than fat. The older age groups are more fixed and focussed on the ‘fat’ message, which they’ve been hearing for decades. With conflicting messages, the default is to fall back on what feels most familiar and credible.

We can see that the ‘obvious’ and most engrained links are most intuitive – we can see that sugar is bad for teeth and makes kids hyperactive… and surely if we eat fat then we’ll get fat !?

Overall the provision of credible, consis-tent, and continuous comms – framed as appropriate along the journey – are needed to change perceptions, reinforce desired behaviours, and drive conviction of opinion and ultimately brand sales.

The Grocery Eye is our annual online study that examines the shopping habits of 2,000 supermarket shoppers to iden-tify attitudes and behaviours towards purchasing food and drink.

Our study has assessed topics such as category percep-tions, attitudes towards product attributes and ingredients, sugar & fat, health & food, and consump-tion behaviours, as well as more specific areas such as eating out, mealtime behaviours, and sustainability. Data is collected using a panel from GMI Lightspeed.

For more information about this study or our experience within the FMCG market, please contact Catherine Elms, senior research director of our launch division.

50% of shoppers have tried to be more healthy in 2017

FAT

26%

SUGAR

23%

Indeed, when looking for a healthy food, fat is the most important consideration for 26% while sugar is the most important for 23%.

Now is the time to keep on pushing the sugar message and for years to come, if we want to build up the engrained beliefs and behaviour change we have seen with fat.

*Movement vs 2016

79% 62%

52%61%

+6%

+3%

-3%

+8%

1 in 5 claim to eat fewer products that contain added sugar