Food Marketing Strategies and Consumer Health Outcomes

Food marketing encompasses a range of strategies including price promotions, product placement, in-store displays, advertising, digital targeting and labelling. These tactics shape consumer purchasing decisions and dietary patterns by emphasising convenience, value and sensory appeal. Price reductions and multi-buy offers often make energy-dense, nutrient-poor products more attractive, while strategic shelf positioning and eye-catching packaging reinforce unhealthy choices. Conversely, health-oriented labelling, front-of-pack nutrition symbols and online nudges can support better dietary decisions. The cumulative effect of these approaches influences population-level diet quality, contributing to obesity, cardiometabolic disease and socioeconomic health disparities. Understanding the interplay between commercial incentives and public health objectives is essential for designing interventions—ranging from regulatory restrictions on promotions of foods high in fat, sugar or salt to voluntary industry reformulations—that foster healthier food environments worldwide.

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Food Marketing Strategies and Consumer Health Outcomes publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in food marketing strategies and consumer health outcomes across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Price promotion: A temporary reduction in the retail price of a product, often through discounts, multi-buy offers or coupons, designed to stimulate immediate sales.

Nutrient profile model: A classification system that scores foods based on nutrient composition (e.g. calories, sugar, salt, saturated fat) to determine their healthfulness.

Ultra-processed food: Industrial formulations made predominantly from extracted ingredients, additives and minimal whole foods, typically high in energy, salt, sugar or fat.

Point-of-purchase marketing: Promotional activities and product placements within retail settings (shelves, end-of-aisle displays, checkouts) that directly influence consumer choices.

Online food environment: The digital context in which food products are presented to consumers, encompassing website layout, search algorithms, targeted advertisements and virtual promotions.

References

1. Supermarket promotions in Western Sweden are incompatible with Nordic dietary recommendations and differ by area-level socioeconomic index. BMC Public Health (2023).
2. Evidence Gaps in Assessments of the Healthiness of Online Supermarkets Highlight the Need for New Monitoring Tools: a Systematic Review. Current Atherosclerosis Reports (2022).
3. Expenditure and Nutritional Impact of Banning the Promotion of Foods High in Fat, Sugar and Salt in Scotland. Frontiers in Nutrition (2022).