UNIT 2 PORTFOLIO

Does technology influence our diet habits?

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Throughout the early years of mankind, people would simply eat what their bodies were craving (or what was available) when they were hungry and stop once they were full or satisfied. In today’s society, most people will not eat something without first examining its nutritional facts. It also is popular among fitness enthusiasts to plan their daily nutritional intake in a very strict and specific manner. My grandmother grew up without an issue regarding her health and weight because people were not as obsessed with every little thing they ate as they are in modern society. Meanwhile, growing up I would keep track of my calories in a journal before I even turned twelve. In terms of diet and nutrition habits, she grew up in a completely different world than me-- a world without technology, which made them less aware and concerned about the foods they ate. Today, technology is constantly putting pressure on what we eat and how we look. 

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Many companies within the food industry have been taking advantage of this sociological trend in society through their persistent marketing and advertising plans. It seems impossible to watch something on television without seeing multiple commercials for restaurants, food products and brands, or anything else that may trigger an individual’s appetite and cravings. In the words of Ph.D. Kit Yarrow in her Psychology Today article titled How Technology is Changing What We Eat, “Innovation cycles much more quickly than ever before. While it may be inspired by our craving for stimulation, it’s fueled by online resources, food programs and videos. Ever more resourceful and self-reliant consumers use information from trusted blogs, tweets, promotions and online reviews for ideas, inspiration and the reassurance to try new things. Fully 65% of women are a friend or fan of a brand on Facebook. McKinsey research has found that two-thirds of what shoppers learn about products today is driven by the consumer, not the seller. This moves new products more quickly into mainstream usage.” 

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Although these statistics did not necessarily come as a shock to me, they both strongly back-up my claim and illustrate the dominant influence that technology holds within the food industry. The idea that only one-third of shoppers’ knowledge on the food products they are consuming is coming directly from the source themselves (the sellers) is absolutely terrifying. This contributes to the issue of false information being spread because none of it is actually credible. For example, if I posted a photo of me eating an apple, claiming that it cured my poor vision and I no longer needed to wear my glasses or contacts, my followers would be much more likely to purchase and/or consume an apple in the near future. Although very exaggerated and unrealistic, this example demonstrates how easily false information could be spread due to modern day technology as well as the impact it has on the consumer market for these food products. 

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Furthermore, nutritional information has become so much more easy to access for all food products. In fact, some restaurants even put the calorie count next to the items on their menu. This may consciously or subconsciously affect what a customer chooses to order. Our purchasing choices have also been changing due to the shift towards the appeal of shiny new things and “better” or “new and improved” versions of things. “We’re more open to trying new things. With every new version of our computer or cell phone we have a crystalized belief that “new is better” (Yarrow, 2012). We are being deprived of the mental focus and time that it takes to cook and shop the way we did a decade ago because of all the time we are spending online. Therefore, we have begun to change the way we make decisions while buying food. To illustrate, we try to save time by avoiding verbal communication in order to obtain information and instead rely more on visual and symbolic communication such as appealing packaging and positive reviews you have heard in the past. Instead of formulating our opinions by intentionally and actively thinking about a product’s characteristics, our opinion of products is influenced through various flashes of information from multiple sources.

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In addition, people in today’s society are quickly becoming lazier by the day and seem to be obsessed with the convenience of things. This is why services like Amazon Prime and GoPuff are thriving in today’s day in age by delivering convenience, speed, and affordability. Why waste time and energy going to the store to purchase something that you can have delivered to your doorstep in just a few short hours? Product bundles such as kits satisfy the “I want what I want when I want it” side effect of technology. They provide consumers with convenience by offering multiple different items included in their one product, limiting the time and effort it takes to shop for things. The convenience of an item adds to the customer’s perceived value of the product and simply makes it that much more appealing. We see examples of firms trying to provide their customers with this convenience factor growing by the day. For instance, twenty-four hour baguette vending machines that finish off a par-baked loaf on command are currently available in France and you can shop at a virtual grocery store in your train station and have your selections waiting for you when you arrive at your destination in Japan. It is only a matter of time before these technological advances make their way to the United States-- and in return will make us even “lazier” than we are now.

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With the growing use of social media, healthy food products, fad diets, and many other nutrition-related products and services are being heavily endorsed by celebrity influencers-- making them seem extremely appealing to their fans and admirers. A strong example of the heavy impact that these endorsements have on consumers is the San Francisco start-up Popchips. Their fast growing success was due to its positive promotion by celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Sarah Jessica Parker. In addition, they had a powerful social media campaign that gives consumers a chance to meet famous pop singer Katy Perry. This campaign is unique because it provides convenience for consumers and helps speed up the sweepstakes entry process by syncing to a user's Facebook account. Senior vice president of marketing at Popchips, Brian Pope, states “We want to reach our consumers where they're spending their time and to communicate in the format they prefer,” he said. “Today that means on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets”. Popchips claims that approximately 20 percent of user interactions for the brand come through mobile and is increasing for the more specific campaigns. To illustrate, Mr. Pope said that the amount of traffic from mobile devices is nearly 30 percent of interactions for attempts at prizes such as the Katy Perry sweepstakes (Johnson, 2019). However, PopChips also has its association with trusted distribution outlets such as Costco, Whole Foods, Virgin Airlines, and Jamba Juice to thank for its success and positive consumer perception as well. Associations like these are the reason that things like a brand’s association with other brands, event sponsorship,  sampling, and most importantly what others are saying about a product, seem to influence consumers even more than direct methods such as company-driven messaging (Yarrow, 2012). 

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There has also been an increase in food blogs and social media accounts. One account, @New_Fork_City on the Instagram app, is quickly approaching almost a million followers and currently has over 949,000 people following them. As of this morning, they have 3,574 posts, which are all pictures of food products and meals. Every time I see a post I get hungry and start to crave a certain food. 

Not only is social media influencing what we eat each day through celebrity influencers promoting fad diets and endless array of popular food blogs and accounts, but it is also affecting the way we see ourselves and how we believe we should. All of these editing apps make everyone seem perfect online and we sit there on our phones looking at their posts wondering why we do not look like them. However, in reality, any of us could professionally edit our pictures to attempt to make ourselves look just as good as them. Unfortunately, many of these celebrities even endorse editing apps, such as “FaceTune”. Features allow users to reshape images (make yourself look thinner or resize facial features), patch one part of an image somewhere else (remove wrinkles and acne or add more hair to the top of your head), draw and recolor hair and skin, defocus and blur, whiten teeth, remove blemishes, and smooth skin while also choosing from a variety of filters, lighting, textures, contrast, and frame options. Facetune 2, the newer version of Facetune, launched in November 2016 as a free download, gives users the opportunity to edit and refine their photos with--believe it or not--even more features. These advanced editing tools include realistic facial editing (such as completely changing facial expressions) and the ability to re-light a subject after the photo has been taken. This is causing a problem because since everyone is editing their pictures, everyone feels the need to do so as well just so they could compare to the rest of the Instagram feed. If everyone just stopped editing their pictures, no one would feel the pressure to edit theirs and make themselves look “perfect” because they wouldn’t constantly be scrolling through artificial images of everyone. So next time you see yourself wishing you looked like one of these “influencers” or “socialites”, just remind yourself that they are probably looking at the same photo of themselves thinking that was reality.

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New studies constantly coming out and being published discussing benefits and disadvantages of certain foods and why or why not you should consume them. But how credible could that information really be? You can pretty much find an article or study for any food item on the market with controversial opinions. It seems like on every corner, people are talking about what is good for you and what will do you harm. Kim Yarrow Ph.D. even mentions this in her article How Technology Is Changing What We Eat by stating "There’s very little that’s considered “foreign” today, in part because of our hyper-connected world."

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According to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), food technology is defined as the application of food science to the selection, preservation, processing, packaging, distribution, and use of safe food. Related fields include analytical chemistry, nutrition, engineering, biotechnology, quality control, and food safety management. Currently, technology is booming and new inventions and gadgets are being introduced to the market faster than we could keep up. A good example of this is a FitBit --activity trackers, wireless-enabled wearable technology devices that measure data such as the number of steps walked, heart rate, quality of sleep, steps climbed, and other personal metrics involved in fitness. Another example is Esquared-- a brand new, simple to operate fitness-on-demand app that uses a concept similar to Uber to enable users to find real-time gym sessions and one-off classes in their area. Esquared contains no commitments or subscription fees and allows you to easily and conveniently pay through the app anywhere on your mobile device. Another highly-rated app is MyFitnessPal, which tracks diet and exercise to determine optimal caloric intake and nutrients for the users' goals and uses gamification elements to motivate users. MyFitnessPal appeals to consumers by being easy to access wherever you are and also gives you the option to connect your Apple Watch. The app is very simple to use and all you have to do is pop in the meals you have eaten throughout the day. Then, MyFitnessPal will use your weight goal, current weight and height, and level of activity to calculate your daily target (recommended amount of calories your should consume to reach your weight goal within your specified time frame) and then tell you how much you have remaining to consume.  

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However, technology has proven to impact our society in some positive ways as well. During my research, I came across an intriguing National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) journal published on PubMed.gov that discusses some of these benefits. More information regarding the functions and mechanisms of specific food components in health promotion and disease prevention than ever before is being contributed by modern nutrition science. According to the article, “In response to demands from increasingly health conscious consumers, the global trend is for food industries to translate nutritional information into consumer reality by developing food products that provide not only superior sensory appeal but also nutritional and health benefits.” It also mentions that development of healthy convenience foods is increasing rapidly due to today’s overloaded lifestyles. Many specific innovations in food technologies that have emerged recently are recognized in the article including enzyme technology (stabilize ingredients or conceal displeasing flavors), encapsulation (add specific nutrient or functional ingredients), fermentation (generate new health food ingredients), fat replacement (adjust food compositions), and extraction (remove unwanted food components). Therefore, using modern technologies in the production of health food may give us the chance to provide consumers with various health benefits while also producing a wide array of foods with upgraded flavor and texture (Hsieh, 2007).

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Intrigued by my research, I tested my pitch by creating this Survey Monkey and sending it to my friends, family, and peers outside of this class:

In order to gather data from a variety of demographics, I made sure to send this survey to an array of different individuals. The results are as follows:

CONCLUSION:

YES!!!

Technology DOES influence our diet habits.

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WORKS CITED

Hsieh YH, Ofori JA. Innovations in food technology for health. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2007;16 

       Suppl 1:65–73. [PubMed]

Johnson, Lauren. “Popchips Anchors Social Media Campaign with Mobile Advertising.” Latest

       News, Mobile Marketer, 2019,      

       www.mobilemarketer.com/ex/mobilemarketer/cms/news/advertising/13869.html.

Yarrow, Kim. “How Technology Is Changing What We Eat.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 

      1 Apr. 2012, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-why-behind-the-buy/201204/how-  

      technology-is-changing-what-we-eat.