Despite substantial literature on how to improve the food environment for children, there has been little work examining how price promotions, nutrient-related claims, and their interactions might be associated with the nutrient profile of food purchases, particularly for lower-income and racial/ethnic minority populations. This study will address these gaps using 2008-2012 data for a demographically representative panel of over 40,000 U.S. household with children from the IRI National Consumer Panel, a large transaction-level database. Specific aims of this project are to: 1) describe characteristics of U.S. households with children who respond to price promotion and/or nutrition-related claims in key product groups; 2) quantify the associations between price promotions, nutrition-related claims, and the interactions between price promotions and claims on the nutrient profile of food purchases in key product groups; and 3) examine whether the response to price promotions, nutrition-related claims, and the interaction of price promotions and claims varies by race/ethnicity, income, and other characteristics such as access to various food sources. The investigator will use varying statistical measures for each aim, including a series of matching and clustering techniques and a dynamic quadratic almost ideal demand system (QAID).
Analyzing the Associations between Price Promotions and Health Claims on the Nutrient Profile of Food Purchases
Start Date: July 2015
ID #: CAS027
Organization: Duke University
Project Lead: Matthew Harding, PhD
State: National
Age Groups: Preschool-age children (ages 3 to 5), Elementary-age children (grades K to 5), Young adolescents (grades 6 to 8), Adolescents (grades 9 to 12), Adults and Families
Resource Type: Commissioned Research Project Summary
Focus Areas: Food & Beverage Marketing, Pricing & Economics
Race/Ethnicity: Multi-racial/ethnic
Keywords: Food outlet, Front-of-package labeling, In-store marketing
Related Research
August 2017
Deal or No Deal? The Prevalence and Nutritional Quality of Price Promotions Among U.S. Food and Beverage Purchases
This study examines trends in the prevalence of price promotions among packaged food and beverage purchases, differences in prevalence by household race/ethnicity or income, and the association between price promotions and the nutritional profile of purchases. The cross-sectional study uses a dataset of 90 million purchases from 38,744 (2008) to … More
March 2017
No Fat, No Sugar, No Salt…No Problem? Prevalence of “Low-Content” Nutrient Claims and Their Associations with the Nutritional Profile of Food and Beverage Purchases in the United States
Nutrient content claims, which characterize the level of a nutrient in a food (e.g., “low-sugar”), are a commonly used marketing tactic. The association between claims, the nutritional quality of products, and consumer purchases is unknown. This study examined low-content nutrient claims on more than 80 million packaged food and beverage … More
September 2019
Digital Food and Beverage Marketing Environments in a National Sample of Middle Schools: Implications for Policy and Practice
One promising approach to influence nutrition behavior is to limit food and beverage marketing to children. Children are a lucrative market and schools may be an effective setting in which to intervene. Studies have shown that marketing in schools is prevalent but little is known about digital marketing to students … More