We'll need even more willpower to resist junk food
Big data in the hands of junk food brands takes consumer nudging to the next level
Do we really have free will when it comes to food choices?
When we’re at the highest level of focus and control we may feel totally in charge, but as food choices and eating are everyday habits, and are made mostly without thought, much of what we ingest isn’t really because we applied judgment or even listened our hunger cues – much of our consumption is mindless.
That’s not necessarily bad. Automation of daily activities can free your mind to pursue other important tasks.
But when the tendency to follow cues and triggers is manipulated in favor of consuming unhealthy foods it can become a problem.
End caps and eye level placement
We already know that food manufacturers use efficient marketing tricks to promote sales. These nudges could have promoted the sales of any number of foods, but since highly processed foods are profit centers for big food manufacturers – who are the powerful players in the supermarket – these are the foods that enjoy strategic placement.
Supermarkets and food outlets are carefully designed to move you about, leading you to places you wouldn’t necessarily go. The necessities aren’t concentrated in one area, which forces shoppers to cover ground even if they’re in for just bread and bananas. The necessities are occasionally shuffled around to prevent us from getting into a speedy shopping rhythm. Since most customers tend to look to the right when entering a supermarket, special offers and promotions will be at the immediate right as you enter.
And then there’s the shelf: Most shoppers are right handed, so placement on the right makes for better sales. Eye level products sell better, that’s where you’ll find what makes more money for the store. Kids’ offerings will be lower, at kids’ eye level. Displays near checkouts and end-caps attract your eye while you’re waiting for the cashier driving impulse shopping.
None of this is by chance.
And now, artificial intelligence and machine learning can apparently upgrade these methods to the next level.
A new study in Public Health Nutrition looks at the way international food companies use artificial intelligence (AI) to nudge consumers to buy more of their products. Nudges are a strategy to affect people’s behavior, they can be employed in the service of improving health (when the kitchen counter displays cut carrots and apples regularly for instance), and they can also be used to promote consumption of less healthy foods.
The researchers included 12 leading companies, including Danone, McDonalds, Pepsico, Coca-cola, Nestle, Yum Brands etc. They read through the companies’ reports for evidence of use of AI to influence customer behavior.
The use of AI is widespread, according to the study. It’s used for social listening: Comments on social media are analyzed for trends and hone in on what customers want. Ordering algorithms and data-driven demographics make sure products are precisely stocked for each location. Weather-related preferences are also digitally analyzed.
Position of the product on menu boards is just as important as its location in the supermarket. The researchers found that many companies use AI to manipulate the visibility and significance of offerings on their menu boards. McDonald’s for instance, describes using decision technology to adjust drive-through menu boards according to weather, time of day and trends. Yum Brands uses facial recognition and manipulates the position of products on the menu according estimated age, sex and mood.
Since much of food ordering is done on screens, companies use AI and other emerging tech to increase sales when customers are on their website or app. They deploy recommendation algorithms offering add-on suggestions, and use bots and voice assistants to augment sales.
Ads and products are targeted based on data that includes location and other information collected through cookies.
Realizing the promise of big data?
Is AI in the hands of food companies of concern?
The authors suggest that by altering the availability, position, functionality and presentation of their offerings companies ultimately increase consumption, and since what these companies sell is predominantly unhealthy food, an increase in consumption affects the population’s diet negatively. McDonalds gains are public health losses.
Using big data to create personalized options, and the ability to to test multiple versions of ads varying copy, images and placement, brings nudging to the next level, and resisting the lure of tempting food becomes even harder. The authors raise another concern: “data can be used to target unhealthy food and beverage marketing to certain populations, with the potential to exacerbate existing disparities in diets and health. Data related to engagement with unhealthy food marketing could also potentially be used to make inferences about long-term health risks, which could then be applied in insurance, financial services, differential pricing or other discriminatory applications.”
Big food often argues that they’re just giving people what they want. Data driven products indeed give the food industry the ability to appeal to our craving for sugar, fat, salt, convenience, availability, and low price. What most people are tempted to do is munch junk food sitting on a couch in front of a screen.
Employing ever more sophisticated ways to make us do what’s easy and tempting is hardly what big data promised to add to mankind.
Dr. Ayala