The store is no longer just a place to buy food or fill prescriptions. It’s also a battleground for your attention, filled with hundreds of pushy ads designed to push you into certain decisions.
Stand in the center aisle of any store, and you’ll see what I mean. You’re greeted by flashy, cheerful packaging with dozens of different claims, many of which aren’t entirely accurate. Others are cherry-picked to change your perception or make you hungrier.
This, unfortunately, works.
A recent study influenced 100% of its participants to buy food after exposure to ads. None of the participants realized the ads had manipulated their decisions, although the study designers knew exactly what they would order, even from a menu with 50 different items.
It gets even more insidious when you look at ads for prescription drugs. Every 10% increase in advertising exposure leads to a 5% increase in sales, regardless of their actual benefit. Even if someone doesn’t know much about a drug, the imagery of happy, smiling people (and assumption that it’s safe because it’s on TV) encourages them to chat with their doctor.
I believe most US food and drug ads fail to help us make informed decisions. I also believe we’re in a metabolic health crisis created by processed food and a tendency to prescribe medications rather than lifestyle changes.
You need to know what you’re being exposed to so you can make decisions for yourself. Here’s what you deserve to know about food and drug ads.
A warning about food ads
The influence of food ads is extremely subliminal. Americans are exposed to thousands per day, and potentially five times more than in the 1970s. However, most of us don’t remember or can’t recall what these are. We’re exposed to so many that they sink into our subconscious.
Unfortunately, the subconscious may have more sway over our decisions than we think — and most of the ads we’re exposed to are on the food package itself. Food companies saw the market shift to healthier foods in 2020, which prompted a whole new subset of ads for ‘keto,’ ‘gluten-free,’ and ‘organic’ products. Seeing ‘organic’ on a label makes our minds think ‘healthy,’ even though the FDA does not regulate the use of ‘organic’ on labels.
Food packaging is the last touchpoint most consumers have with food, and the colors, images, and trigger words can ‘prime’ shoppers to make a choice. Words are powerful, and positioning is crucial. Identifying specific trigger words can help you make healthy choices, regardless of what’s printed on the box.
For example, a bag of chips with the claim ‘no artificial colors’ may sound better to you since you’re aware of the effects of food dye. However, you also know that slightly less yellow potato chips are still potato chips — the package wants to redirect your attention to a different issue. They didn’t lie on the package per se, but they do tip-toe around the problem and associate the word ‘healthier’ with their product.
The bottom line? Even if you’re vigilant about maintaining your metabolic health, you need to know how food packaging bends the truth or manipulates your feelings to sell products.
Medication advertisements and your metabolic health
The traditional doctor’s visit is broken at its core. You explain your aches and pains, then leave with a pill that ‘makes everything better.’ If you hear about a new drug on TV, you bring it up with your doctor only to get a response like, ‘I can prescribe that if you want.’
This is just one of the problems I have with medication advertisements.
Are you familiar with Ozempic, America’s newest weight loss craze drug? This is a semaglutide injection initially used to treat those with diabetes.
These days, you can hardly turn on the TV without hearing about Ozempic’s weight loss benefits. You also can’t avoid the online noise and celebrity endorsements, which are concerning enough on their own. One celebrity said, “I think it’s safe and healthy. I think it’s good for you. It’s like taking vitamins.” While not directly funded by Ozempic, this still creates a misleading idea of what the drug is supposed to do.
If you’re stuck on a YouTube mid-roll watching an ad for Ozempic, you’re unlikely to recall more than just its positive benefits. This isn’t unique to Ozempic — many medication ads skim over side effects in tiny text blurbs or ultra-fast speech. Plus, many ads are just a few seconds long, which means you don’t have much time to think about its risks. For example, did you know Ozempic has risks for thyroid C-cell tumors, and may induce rare stomach conditions or cause strange dreams?
Remember: the purpose of an ad is to sell you, not necessarily inform you. One study found that 26% of medication advertisements provided quantitative information about benefits, but 0% provided quantitative information about risks. It’s like getting a prescription for statins — all you hear about is how it can lower your LDL, not how you’re fighting the very thing your body is using to heal you.
But one of the most concerning aspects of drug advertisements is related to their efficacy. Heavily advertised medications may not have much benefit, in spite of their higher price tags. A study found more than 70% of prescription drugs advertised on television have low to no therapeutic value, which means they’re not necessarily useful in the treatment of disease.
To be clear, I’m not saying all medications are bad for you, or even unnecessary. However, I am saying that many drugs on the market aren’t necessary to live a healthy lifestyle. In fact, you could get similar (if not better) benefits by assuming a metabolically healthy lifestyle. I talk about this more in my course on the seven principles of metabolic health.
Making informed decisions for yourself
It’s clear advertisements don’t always have your best interests in mind. So how can you make informed decisions to support your metabolic health?
I encourage you to start purchasing food based on what you know, not what claims on the box would lead you to believe. Learn how to read an ingredients label and purchase whole, real foods as often as possible. Avoid pre-packaged ‘near food objects’ and instead cook your meals at home.
For drug ads, remember that medications aren’t always the best way to treat chronic disease. Some come with dangerous side effects that could harm your metabolic health. Others come with expensive price tags for something you can fix yourself with simple (free) lifestyle changes.
Whenever you’re exposed to an advertisement, remember the company behind the ad has something to gain. Try to look at it from a marketer’s perspective and do your own research before purchasing anything. Remember, the person with the most at stake in your health is you. Don’t let corporations make a quick buck on your metabolic health.
That said, I recognize how difficult it is to escape the cravings and subliminal messaging of food and drug ads. I recommend joining my metabolic health coaching group if you want the support and encouragement of others. Each month, you have the opportunity to speak with a dedicated metabolic coach, then attend monthly Q&As where you can ask questions about your journey.