(P28-027-23) Portrayal of Different Body Sizes and Genders in Goal Frames Used To Promote Food and Beverage Advertisements in Ghana

Objectives: Nutrition-related non-communicable diseases rates in Ghana are rising. Television advertisements promote ultra-processed foods and beverages that utilize goal frame strategies to appeal to consumer desires. This study aimed to assess how goal frames promoted food and beverages with various body sizes and gender in advertisements in Accra, Ghana.

Methods: From Feb-May 2020, 486 television programming hours were recorded. Content analysis of food and beverage advertisements with a full body view of one to five actors were coded for goal frames that play into motives, actor gender and body size (using Ettarh’s silhouettes), and product promoted (healthy or unhealthy using INFORMAS’ classification). Normative goal frame is associated with appropriateness, hedonic with pleasure, and gain with personal resources. Advertisements with multiple goal frames were excluded from the analysis. Group differences were evaluated with Chi-square tests weighted by total actors in advertisement.

Results: There were 439 advertisements, with 1456 actors, analyzed by goal frame. Gain (40%, n=175) and hedonic (38%, n=165) frames were more common than normative (22%, n=99). Most actors were underweight (73%, n=1070), followed by normal (19%, n=275) and overweight/obese (7%, n=106) and equally distributed by gender (52% male, n=758). Gain frames were most common among underweight (43%, p< 0.001) and male actors (44% v. female 32%, p< 0.001). Hedonic frames did not differ by body size, gender, or food (all p >0.05). Normative goal frames were most common among normal weight (43%, p< 0.001) and female actors (36%, v. male 18%, p=0.002). Gain frame was more often used to promote healthy (54%, v. unhealthy 35%, p< 0.001) products, whereas normative frame was more often used to promote unhealthy products (29%, v. healthy 13%, p< 0.001).

Conclusions: Healthy foods and beverage advertisements used a gain frame, whereas unhealthy used normative. Underweight males were more often used in gain frames, while normal weight females, normative frames. Understanding how and why different goal frames are used in food and beverage advertising can help counter demand for unhealthy products. Advertisements should increase body diversity among all goal frames.

Funding Sources: International Development Research Centre’s Food, Environment, and Health Programme and University of South Carolina