Try this experiment: for one day, count how many times the food industry targets, using the marketing term, your “available brain time.” Junk food, sodas, ultra-processed foods, and other sugar-laden products are displayed on giant billboards in the streets, in promotional videos on social media or television, on banners around your favorite sports fields, or in the bright and attractive colors of products in stores.

This advertising omnipresence results from an “extremely sophisticated marketing strategy,” explains Mehdi Azlaf, a physician in health and nutrition sciences. These incentives have profoundly changed the eating habits of Moroccans, leading to an epidemic that affects both the health of citizens and the economy of the Kingdom.

Creating a need

Because advertising is a way for the food industry “to influence the eating habits of Moroccans and to create lifestyle habits,” says Mehdi Azlaf. The doctor even believes that advertisers have created an “obesogenic advertising environment (which promotes the development of the obesity epidemic, editor’s note).”

In 2016, the doctor conducted a study in which he recorded all the advertisements on the two most-watched channels in the Kingdom (2M and Al Aoula). The result? An overwhelming presence of ads for sugary products (27.1%) and dairy products (43.8%). Regarding the latter category, the doctor explains that advertisers “hammer parents with the message that it is important for children to be fed dairy products to grow normally.”

Most parents “don’t realize that they are buying dairy products, yes, but ones that are sweetened, like many brands of yogurt”

Where the problem lies is that most of them “don’t realize that they are buying dairy products, yes, but ones that are sweetened, like many brands of yogurt.” As a result, instead of the healthy food that parents believe they are giving to their children, they are creating a dependency on an addictive product that is “of low nutritional quality,” Mehdi Azlaf points out.

On the other hand, during the three months of viewing, not a single advertisement was aired to encourage the purchase of fruits and vegetables. This advertising dominance of obesity-promoting foods resembles the creation of desires, habits, and dietary needs that didn’t exist before. And on Moroccans’ plates, it is healthy foods that suffer.

Marketing 360°

The term “aggressive targeting” used by the doctor should not suggest a crude effort by advertisers. On the contrary, he assures that the methods used to alter the eating habits of Moroccans are “extremely sophisticated.” At the forefront of these methods is “360° marketing,” he explains. This strategy consists of saturating all channels and platforms to miss no consumer, while coordinating these advertising campaigns.

The omnipresence of ads for products with poor nutritional quality is coupled with “algorithmic targeting,” says Mehdi Azlaf. “Thanks to our data and internet experience, advertisers are able to determine, sometimes with the help of AI, which products are most likely to influence us to buy,” he explains.

Finally, the doctor identifies a third method used by the food industry: neuromarketing. “It is a set of highly advanced marketing techniques that use medical imaging to understand which areas of the brain to stimulate in order to better sell a product.”

Researchers have shown that purchasing decisions can be influenced more by emotion, brand familiarity, and the unconscious mind than by reason. Beyond the ethical considerations—which raise concerns about techniques designed to influence consumers without their awareness—the development of neuromarketing reflects an advertising ecosystem designed to alter eating habits.

The inequality in the promotion of obesity

“Advertisers target vulnerable groups more, such as disadvantaged socio-economic groups,” notes Mehdi Azlaf

But not all Moroccans are affected in the same way or with the same intensity by the advertising promotion of food that is as low in nutritional quality as it is high in sugar. “Advertisers target vulnerable groups more, such as disadvantaged socio-economic groups,” says Mehdi Azlaf. He notes that “those who are the most disadvantaged economically, socially, and in terms of education are the most likely to make unbalanced food choices.”

Aware of this inequality, industries compete with low prices to better sell their goods to this socio-economic segment. And what better ingredient than sugar—an inexpensive, addictive, and subsidized product—to add to foods marketed to the most vulnerable populations?

A study by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM, France) reveals that “processed products (as opposed to raw products) contain inexpensive added fats and sugars. This plays a major role in the qualitative modification of the food supply.”

Mehdi Azlaf observes that for the most disadvantaged populations, “the most accessible products have become the most filling: bread, sugar, snacks, and fast food for people who work and don’t have time.” Furthermore, with inflation, it is the so-called “raw” products like meat, fish, and vegetables “that have increased the most in price, with some of them becoming luxury items.”

The direct consequence, highlighted by a national nutrition survey conducted by the Ministry of Health in 2019-2020, is that “obesity is most prevalent among women with low levels of education”: the lower the education level, the higher the chances for women aged 15 to 49 to be affected by obesity.

Targeting of children

Mehdi Azlaf’s study also shows that advertisers specifically target children and adolescents, as they “haven’t developed the critical thinking needed to assess advertising messages.”

Gifts associated with the product, bright colors, attractive design, trendy music, mascots, or language suited for children—everything is used to turn young viewers in front of the TV into avid consumers. “Through this advertising, coordinated between television and social media, advertisers tend to normalize social behaviors,” explains the doctor.

But why target a social group that, by nature, doesn’t make purchasing decisions? Mehdi Azlaf points to “pester power,” a phenomenon where children pressure their parents to buy products they’ve seen in advertisements. “All parents know this,” he says with amusement.

« 2 words strike dread in the heart of every parent who has tried to negotiate a supermarket with kids: pester power! Read more in our blog all about pester power here: https://t.co/jREfRRO1ov pic.twitter.com/iw7RJTjv9S

— WCRF International (@wcrfint) December 27, 2021

Beyond screens, the food industry’s marketing has other tricks to encourage children to consume products of low nutritional quality. One such tactic is the “child-sized shopping cart,” notes Mehdi Azlaf.

This accessory, sometimes paired with a toy in large stores, is yet another example of the coordination in “360° marketing.” It allows children to place in their cart the products they have seen on television. The strategy is all the more effective because the shelves are carefully arranged to place ultra-sugary products at eye and hand level for the youngest shoppers.

Lastly, while the scientific community hasn’t reached a consensus on the type of addiction caused by sugar, as indicated by a report in the French daily Libération, its addictive nature is very real. What better method than to condition the junkies of tomorrow from a young age?

What observable effects are seen in the youth?

“By the age of 2 or 3, children are able to recognize brands and mascots they see in advertisements in stores,” says Mehdi Azlaf. Like when a little girl chooses a product “because she recognizes the princess printed on it.” Later, “by the age of 5 or 6, they know the names of the brands,” the doctor adds.

Neuromarketing has shown that when a consumer recognizes a brand they associate with positive feelings, they tend to enjoy its taste more. For teenagers, “marketers have understood the influence of the social status a brand can provide,” explains Mehdi Azlaf. “In their advertising, they will therefore emphasize the social benefits that the brand provides them,” he continues.

Additionally, the doctor observes another social phenomenon at play: “peer pressure (…). When a child, whose parents are mindful of their diet, arrives at lunchtime with a small sandwich, a dairy product, and a piece of fruit; and their friend has a brightly colored, sugar-filled processed snack with a toy inside, they will ask their parents for the same thing.”

As a result, when he participated in studies on the nutrition of preschool and school-age children, “we found the discarded packaging from the students, and almost all of the products they consume are unhealthy,” he laments.

The figures from the national nutrition survey conducted by the Ministry of Health confirm his observations: 18.4% of children aged 6 to 12 are overweight, and 5.4% of them are obese.

Building immunity to advertising

Mehdi Azlaf calls for action to counter the obesogenic environment fostered by advertising. “The targeting of our children cannot continue like this; it is our responsibility as a society,” he insists.

The first measure he proposes to curb this phenomenon is to “restrict advertising for products with poor nutritional quality, high in sugar, fat, and sodium, especially during programs aimed at children.” He suggests that the remaining advertisements should be required to display “banners with recommendations from Morocco’s National Nutrition Program, such as ‘eat fruits and vegetables’ or ‘exercise every day.’”

To make this first proposal effective, he puts forward a second one: “We need to create an observatory to monitor advertisements and track marketing trends. We cannot effectively fight a phenomenon without having real-time information.”

Another “health barrier” must be imposed, this time by parents. He also suggests promoting the importance of nutritional education among parents so they can pass it on to their children. These messages could be delivered through “social marketing,” Mehdi Azlaf points out.

Social marketing is essentially fighting fire with fire. It involves using the same strategies and channels as advertisers to influence citizens’ behaviors toward a healthier lifestyle. Authorities, for example, use it in awareness campaigns for road safety.

Mehdi Azlaf, who worked with the Ministry of National Education from 2004 to 2018, believes in “seriously integrating nutrition and media literacy into school curriculums.” While some initiatives have been implemented in schools, “we are far from where we need to be,” he laments. From a young age, he wants schools to teach children to understand and critically assess the messages directed at them.

“This already exists, but in a very limited way,” he notes. “Here and there, we’ve seen IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) actions, such as a week of nutritional education organized in primary schools in partnership with a major food industry company.” The doctor advocates that the messages conveyed be validated by the National Nutrition Program (PNN) of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to avoid any dissonance in those messages.

Finally, with the introduction of cooking education, Mehdi Azlaf suggests that the Ministry of National Education reintroduce children to traditional recipes for a healthy diet. “We have a population that is forgetting the subtleties of taste,” he regrets. To ensure schools are a safe space for food security, he emphasizes the need to ban the sale of products loaded with sugar, fat, or sodium.

Written in French by Marin Daniel Thézard, edited in English by Eric Nielson