In light of the recent controversy over commodity checkoff advertising for cheese, some may wonder why there is no similar advertising for fruits and vegetables.
A recent working paper (.pdf) by a team of economists from Cornell and Arizona State uses a laboratory experiment to estimate the potential consumer response to several different fruits and vegetable advertising strategies. The paper by Jura Liaukonyte, Bradley Rickard, Harry Kaiser, and Timothy Richards found, in this consumer laboratory setting, that broad-based advertising for the entire category of fruits and vegetables seemed more promising than separate advertisements for particular products. Separate advertisements for each product could cannibalize each other.
An earlier study in Australia estimated positive impacts of a fruit and vegetable advertising campaign. The authors concluded: "Sustained, well-executed social marketing is effective in improving nutrition knowledge, attitudes and consumption behaviour. The Go for 2&5 campaign provides guidance to future nutrition promotion through social marketing."
1 comment:
I happened to have been one of the participants in the first study. Participating got me worried about a lot of things we as economists do, but it turned out they weren't trying to do what I was afraid of. These were my thoughts on understanding our food preferences right after participating.
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