Food Purchase Behaviors in Australia: Impact of Marketing and Ethnicity

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Food-related consumption behaviors are complicated phenomena influenced by a wide range of elements that go beyond need or nourishment and frequently include social, regional, and religious beliefs and aspirations. Unfortunately, mindless consumption happens when customers consume without logical explanations or clear thinking owing to a lack of good knowledge and comprehension. In contrast, health-conscious eating behaviors include, for example, maintaining a nutritious diet, eating fruits and vegetables often, purchasing local and seasonal foods, cooking, and adhering to medical nutrition guidelines. Such patterns are usually followed by changing one’s eating habits, such as buying organic food, visiting smaller shops or local markets, eliminating animal products, and emphasizing quality instead of quantity. These dynamics are widely studied by researchers and provide insight for further improvements. As such, this paper aims to review the influence of marketing and ethnicity on food purchase behaviors in Australia to identify the possibility for positive change.

One of the social factors impacting the food purchase behaviors of Australians is media and marketing. Namely, research has found extensive discretionary food advertising is present in all major Australian supermarkets (1). Food marketing decisions in markets result from intricate interactions between beverage and food corporations and sellers. Food businesses pay for display space in conspicuous promotional presentations to advertise their products. Such marketing impacts shopping patterns and community diets significantly. Namely, food placed and promoted in prominent settings is more likely to attract customers to items generally that could be purchased on impulse and mainly in the discretionary category (1). However, consuming discretionary food in Australian shops contradicts Australian Dietary Guidelines, which encourage consuming discretionary food only seldom and in modest amounts (1). Hence, marketing techniques promote unhealthy dietary choices.

Moreover, there are significant disparities in the healthiness of in-store shopping settings among retail groups. Research has found that marketing tactics vary by area and socioeconomic position of communities (1). These results imply that Australians’ discretionary food consumption might differ depending on where they reside and the network in which they shop. Thus, these distinctions may lead to discrepancies in Australian diets.

Besides the possible creation of inequality, the negative role of social influence of marketing is evident for several reasons. First, obesity and lousy population diets are widely acknowledged to be caused by world food systems that predominantly manufacture and market processed food (1). Food retail settings, where Australians buy most of their food, have a tremendous effect on diets due to their impact on food purchase decisions. Supermarket chains account for most of Australia’s food and beverage expenditure, making them the primary source of food for most households. Supermarket marketing methods (including item, layout, price, and advertising manipulation) profoundly affect purchasing behavior, especially when buying decisions are unplanned (1). Secondly, the findings show that the recognized food safety-related public health threats that could be induced by marketing include selling infected foods, chemical spills of nutrition, food impurity, abuse of food additions, misnaming, and expired foods (4). Therefore, local and worldwide food advertising continues to influence public health substantially.

The other social influence that could be investigated in the context of Australian food purchase behaviors is ethnicity. Studies confirm that consumer food purchase patterns might give a particular perspective on the nutritional disparities identified by ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and geographic location (6). Moreover, according to the findings, there exists evidence that differences in food retail settings in regions of Australia are based on socioeconomic status, geographic location, and culture of the communities (2). For example, Asian-born women in Australia consume different foods and nutrients than Australian-born women (3). In fact, Asian-born women consume fewer grains, rice and noodles, beef and pork, and its by-products (3). Therefore, people with particular ethnicities might prefer other diets, which result from purchase decisions, that are not necessarily healthy.

The other illustration of ethnicity’s influence on purchase behavior concerns Australian Aboriginal peoples. Many institutional, environmental, economic, social, political, and regional issues contribute to Aboriginal people’s malnutrition and poor diet-related diseases in Australia. A study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations discovered that accessibility, conventional and individual tastes, nutrition knowledge and culinary abilities, and cultural elements such as demand-sharing all influence food choice (8). Moreover, several essential aspects related to ethnicity impact household food preferences and, as a result, purchasing habits. The overall makeup and organization of households, notably the quantity and mobility of family members, influences food purchase, supply, and cooking. Overcrowding is an obstacle to cooking or sharing meals, with many individuals, particularly children, sharing domestic amenities (8). Children’s requests for sweets and snack items also directly affected food purchases. The importance of the influence lies in the fact that different communities in Australia may be more vulnerable to diseases due to their purchasing behaviors.

However, it is possible to identify policies that have been and could be implemented to improve nutritious food in Australia with regard to the described social influences and related issues. As such, the provided insights could be utilized to guide government and industry strategies to improve store food environments for managing the negative impact of marketing. It is suggested that government agencies track alterations in food settings, assist the planning process, assess in-store programs, and keep supermarkets accountable for their policy commitments.

A willingness to observe supermarket environments at frequent intervals is essential. Additionally, media literacy training may empower people and increase critical thinking in order to lessen the impacts of food advertising on households and improve media use for nutrition information (5). National solid risk-based food regulatory systems are required to preserve the public’s health and safety. The country must also ensure the safety and quality of its foods entering international trade and that imported foods meet national standards (4). Moreover, the findings back up earlier demands for standardized methods and techniques to assess the health of retail food settings (2). Hence, the identified policy is vital for informing evidence-based approach and assessment in this critical component of suggested obesity prevention interventions.

Moreover, food insecurity is a significant issue in Australia, and specific ethnic populations are more vulnerable. Hence, government policies and health promotion activities targeting at-risk groups may help address the problem more effectively. Furthermore, adopting a multifunction measure as a nationwide indicator of food and nutrition security in Australia is worth investigating (7). The policy promises to be effective due to the fact that the ethnicities at risk have been described in research, and the guidelines for healthy eating in Australia have been developed.

To conclude, the paper has described the social influences of marketing and ethnicity on food purchase decisions in Australia. It has been highlighted that manipulative marketing techniques cause increased consumption of discretionary food, which might result in obesity and other food-related diseases. In turn, research has demonstrated that specific ethnicities of Australia are more vulnerable to unhealthy purchasing decisions, which impact their health and well-being. Both problems require governmental or administrative intervention to improve nutrition practices in the country.

Letter to Minister

Dear Mrs. Rowland,

I write to you, a Federal Minister for Communications of Australia, in order to highlight an issue related to media and marketing, which is in your competency to consider. Namely, media and marketing social influence alter the food purchase behaviors of the citizens, resulting in a range of subsequent problems.

It should be noted that obesity is the most significant cause of noncommunicable illnesses and early mortality throughout the world. Unhealthy diets, characterized by an excess of foods high in calories, fats, free sugars, and salt and an insufficient intake of vegetables and fruits, are significant contributors to obesity and noncommunicable illnesses (1). Discretionary food accounts for more than a third of total calorie consumption in Australia and is often ultra-processed (1). Several studies have found a link between ultra-processed food intake and all-cause death (1). As a result, reducing discretionary food intake is critical for enhancing population nutrition and health.

Obesity and negative population habits are widely acknowledged to be caused by world food systems that predominantly manufacture and market processed food. Food retail locations, in particular, where customers get the majority of their food, have enormous potential to change diets through their effect on food purchase decisions (2). Supermarkets account for two-thirds of overall meals and beverages spending in Australia, leaving them the primary supplier of food for the majority of households (1). Supermarket marketing strategies (including item, placement, pricing, and promotional manipulation) have a substantial impact on purchase behavior, especially when shopping choices are spontaneous.

Hence, a proposed intervention policy for the issue is needed. The literature on the existing effective programs outlies several key initiatives. The actions include bringing awareness of the government guidelines to the retail marketers, monitoring their outlets, establishing and promoting spaces encouraging a healthy diet, and implementing nutrition training for various populations (2, 4, 5). Furthermore, the research found that monitoring changes in food environments, assisting in goal formulation, and assessing in-store efforts keep supermarkets accountable for their policy commitments (1). Next, a rise in the number of healthy food places near the residence was substantially related to an improvement in healthy diet ratings, as was an elevation in the distance from the home to the closest restaurant (9). Finally, Media literacy instruction is shown to empower people and increase the ability to think critically to lessen the impacts of food marketing on communities and improve media use for nutritional knowledge (5). Therefore, the proposed policy of governmental intervention has an evidence-based foundation.

In short, the national issues of obesity and noncommunicable illnesses that might provoke premature deaths of Australian citizens are partly caused by marketing and media manipulations. Fortunately, there is a way to control this influence and establish healthy nutrition practices. As such, it is crucial to consider aiding and monitoring the retail outlets to prevent discretionary food advertising. Changing the local food landscape by raising the relative share of healthier food outlets near the house may help people eat better. Empowering people with nutrition knowledge will provide self-sustainable and cognizant behavior among the citizens.

References

1. Schultz S, Cameron AJ, Grigsby-Duffy L, Robinson E, Marshall J, Orellana L, et al. Availability and placement of healthy and discretionary food in Australian supermarkets by chain and level of socio-economic disadvantage. Public Health Nutr. 2021 Feb;24(2):203–14.
2. Needham C, Sacks G, Orellana L, Robinson E, Allender S, Strugnell C. A systematic review of the Australian food retail environment: Characteristics, variation by geographic area, socioeconomic position and associations with diet and obesity. Obesity Reviews [Internet]. 2020 Feb [cited 2022 Sep 12];21(2). Web.
3. Liu H, Hall JJ, Xu X, Mishra GD, Byles JE. Differences in food and nutrient intakes between Australian- and Asian-born women living in Australia: Results from the Australian longitudinal study on women’s health: nutrition differences between Australian- and Asian-born women. Nutr Diet. 2018;75(2):142–50.
4. Gizaw Z. Public health risks related to food safety issues in the food market: a systematic literature review. Environ Health Prev Med. 2019 Dec;24(1):68.
5. Austin EW, Austin BW, French BF, Cohen MA. The effects of a nutrition media literacy intervention on parents’ and youths’ communication about food. journal of health communication. 2018;23(2):190–9.
6. Singleton C, Winkler M, Houghtaling B, Adeyemi O, Roehll A, Pionke J, et al. Understanding the intersection of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geographic location: a scoping review of U.S. consumer food purchasing. IJERPH. 2020;17(20):7677.
7. Butcher LM, O’Sullivan TA, Ryan MM, Lo J, Devine A. Utilising a multi‐item questionnaire to assess household food security in Australia. Health Promot J Austral. 2019;30(1):9–17.
8. Bryce S, Scales I, Herron LM, Wigginton B, Lewis M, Lee A, et al. Maitjara Wangkanyi: Insights from an ethnographic study of food practices of households in remote Australian aboriginal communities. IJERPH. 2020;17(21):8109.
9. Bivoltsis A, Trapp G, Knuiman M, Hooper P, Ambrosini G. Do changes in the local food environment within new residential developments influence the diets of residents? Longitudinal Results from RESIDE. IJERPH. 2020;17(18):6778.

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Food Purchase Behaviors in Australia: Impact of Marketing and Ethnicity

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