Are we lovin’ it? How food marketing messes with our minds and diets
We see food marketing everywhere – on TV, online, on billboards, bus shelters, sports stadia – but does it really affect what we eat? Nobody wants to believe they are being manipulated by the food industry and their bright and dynamic promotions, but unfortunately the evidence does suggest that ‘advertising works’. In this talk, I’ll share the many different ways in which food marketers grab our attention and persuade us to think positively of their brand and to buy and consume their products. I’ll discuss how our exposure to marketing can differ depending on where we live and how we are personally targeted with content online, as well as how advancing digital technologies are driving changes in our experiences of marketing now and in the future.
About Emma Boland
Emma Boyland is a Professor of Food Marketing and Child Health based in the Department of Psychology at the University of Liverpool, where she leads the Appetite and Obesity Research Group and is Deputy Executive Dean for the Institute of Population Health. Emma is an experimental psychologist whose studies explore unhealthy food marketing and the impact that this has on eating and eating-related behaviours. She works extensively with the World Health Organization and UNICEF on these issues in relation to child health, and has informed policies in the UK and international to restrict food marketing to children. She was recently (spring 2024) called as an expert witness for the House of Lords inquiry into food, diet, and obesity.
Safety & Comfort
We aim to be an inclusive organisation, welcoming attendees from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders. The directors reserve the right to remove any attendee whose continued presence represents a real or perceived threat to the smooth running of our events, or the security and comfort of other attendees. Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.