21 pages, Because mothers are the primary grocery shoppers for most households, they play a fundamental role in the food their families eat. As such, it is important to understand their perceptions of potential sources of food safety and nutrition information. This study surveyed young mothers (i.e., 18-40 years old) across the United States to assess their awareness, knowledge, and trust of celebrities and social media influencers who communicate about food-related topics. The list of celebrities and influencers consisted of TV chefs, celebrities and influencers who espouse favorable viewpoints of food and agriculture, and celebrities and influencers who espouse more alternative viewpoints of food and agriculture. Respondents were usually more aware and knowledgeable of the celebrities and chefs than the influencers. They also generally trusted the TV chefs the most. There tended to be small-to-medium positive correlations between a respondents’ knowledge of a celebrity/influencer and their trust of that celebrity/influencer but not all were statistically significant. Communicators looking to influence the largest number of people would benefit more from working with celebrities, but social media influencers could still play a role in campaigns that target specific online communities where the influencers’ values align with community members. More research is recommended to expand to other audiences, as well as assessing other celebrities and influencers. Research can also address how consumers use social media to get food-related information, how trust could be affected by communication using different social media platforms, and content analyses of food-related communication by celebrities and influencers on social media outlets.
11 pages., Via online journal article, OBJECTIVES: To examine the impact of social media influencer marketing of foods (healthy and unhealthy) on children’s food intake.
METHODS: In a between-subjects design, 176 children (9–11 years, mean 10.5 ± 0.7 years) were randomly assigned to view mock Instagram profiles of 2 popular YouTube video bloggers (influencers). Profiles featured images of the influencers with unhealthy snacks (participants: n = 58), healthy snacks (n = 59), or nonfood products (n = 59). Subsequently, participants’ ad libitum intake of unhealthy snacks, healthy snacks, and overall intake (combined intake of healthy and unhealthy snacks) were measured.
RESULTS: Children who viewed influencers with unhealthy snacks had significantly increased overall intake (448.3 kilocalories [kcals]; P = .001), and significantly increased intake of unhealthy snacks specifically (388.8 kcals; P = .001), compared with children who viewed influencers with nonfood products (357.1 and 292.2 kcals, respectively). Viewing influencers with healthy snacks did not significantly affect intake.
CONCLUSIONS: Popular social media influencer promotion of food affects children’s food intake. Influencer marketing of unhealthy foods increased children’s immediate food intake, whereas the equivalent marketing of healthy foods had no effect. Increasing the promotion of healthy foods on social media may not be an effective strategy to encourage healthy dietary behaviors in children. More research is needed to understand the impact of digital food marketing and inform appropriate policy action.
