Bet You Can’t Eat Just One: Binge Eating Disorder Promotion In American Food Advertising
Bet You Can’t Eat Just One: Binge Eating Disorder Promotion In American Food Advertising

Summary/Abstract: „Eat Like Andy“; „What Would You Do For A Klondike Bar?“ For well over a century, American food manufacturers have been competing for consumers’ attention through the use of catchy jingles, iconic characters and celebrities. At the same time, the products being advertised contain greater amounts of addictive ingredients, which encourage binge eating resulting in an unprecedented obesity epidemic. Combine this with the „full-scale commercialization of the culture today“. Jhally identifies and the powerful impact of food advertisements becomes clear as does the need to evaluate these ads. As Kilbourne noted nearly a quarter of a century ago, the majority of food advertisements „normalize bingeing“ to the point of making it societally acceptable. This chapter uses content analysis methodology to analyze American food advertisements in print, electronic, and digital media format using the criteria for Binge Eating Disorder outlined in the American Psychiatric Association’s Fifth edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMV) and intake criteria from the National Eating Disorders Association and the Food Addiction Institute to determine the percentage of ads that promote BED/food addiction characteristics to increase product sales. In total, more than 100 ads for foods with the NOVA UltraProcessed classification were analyzed.

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