We’ve all seen the sexy food adverts, sumptuous and lingering shots of tempting food accompanied by seductive music and a whispering voiceover. Food retailers obviously think this kind of advertising works on us but does it?

Well new research suggests we are not quite as susceptible to this kind of advertising as the food industry seems to think we are.

 

Over the past few years we have seen an increase in food retailers using ‘food porn’ style adverts to tempt consumers into stores, most noticeably during the festive period and summer months. However recent research by a money saving voucher code website shows that these ads don’t actually tempt that many people in to the store or try new foods. Additionally people still rely on TV cookery shows and recipe books for inspiration rather than websites or social media.

Surveying 2,401 people in the UK aged over 18 www.myvouchercodes.co.uk asked: “How influenced by ‘food porn’ style adverts like those by M&S are you to try and buy from these retailers?” Out of those taking part in the survey, just 4% said they were highly influenced by these style of adverts. The majority, 45% were not influenced at all by them. The results showed that women were more likely to be swayed by these adverts, whereas men were not. Also younger people were more likely to be tempted to shop and try foods after seeing food porn adverts compared to older people who were not interested.

Following up on the results, My Voucher Codes asked respondents: “What influences your grocery shopping” They found:

– Quality  52%

– Availability  39%

– Selection and choice of products  35%

– Customer service  23%

– Advertisements  18%

– Welfare standards  12%

The results show that most people surveyed place cost in regards to value for money as their main influence when shopping, preferring stores which offer good quality food at the best prices. Adverts come at the bottom, just above welfare standards.

So we might like to see lingering shots of sexy food and deep husky voice overs (or just think it’s funny). Either way we’re not quite so easily influenced by sexy food adverts as the food industry likes to think.