Food Marketing: Can We Trust the Message?

Overview

Students build on the previous lesson about reading food labels by investigating how advertising, packaging and sponsorship can shape food choices. They analyse a fictional advertisement, use its nutrition panel to fact-check claims, and develop strategies for making informed decisions.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• identify persuasive techniques used in food marketing
• analyse how advertising, packaging and sponsorship influence food choices
• use nutrition information to fact-check health claims
• explain how marketing can influence attitudes and behaviours
• suggest strategies for informed food choices

Prior learning: Students have previously examined serving size, energy, saturated fat, sugars, sodium and the percentage daily intake on nutrition information panels.

Key vocabulary: marketing, target audience, persuasive technique, slogan, endorsement, sponsorship, health claim, nutrition claim, evidence, serving size, informed choice.

Success criteria

• I can identify at least three persuasive techniques in a food advertisement.
• I can explain how a marketing message may influence a person’s choice.
• I can use a nutrition panel as evidence to support or challenge a claim.
• I can suggest practical strategies for making informed food choices.

Curriculum links

• Students investigate health information and propose strategies that enhance safety, health and wellbeing.
• Students demonstrate ways to access and use reliable health information.
• Students recognise strategies that promote safety and wellbeing when making everyday choices.
• Students use critical thinking to evaluate health messages, products and marketing influences.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook and retrieval. Open with the provocative hook slide showing two fictional cereal packages: one covered in bright colours and claims, the other showing only a nutrition panel. Ask, “Which one would most students choose, and why?” Students write one remembered fact from the food-labelling lesson, then share with a partner. Briefly clarify that attractive packaging is not evidence that a product is nutritious.

2. 5–15 min · Explicit teaching. Use the marketing techniques slides to introduce target audience, slogans, colour and imagery, celebrity or influencer endorsement, health claims, emotional language, prizes and sponsorship. Model a think-aloud: “This image suggests energy, but it does not prove the food provides a healthy source of energy.” Students add examples to the technique table on the food marketing investigation worksheet. Emphasise that marketing is designed to influence behaviour and is not automatically false, but claims should be checked.

3. 15–27 min · Advertisement analysis. Display the fictional advertisement, “Zing Bites — The Smart Start!” It shows a smiling student preparing for sport, a green tick, the words “wholegrain goodness”, “low fat”, “naturally energising” and “feel-good fuel”, plus a school-sport sponsorship badge. In pairs, students complete the advertisement analysis checklist on the food marketing investigation worksheet: identify the target audience, purpose, techniques, feelings created, information emphasised or omitted, and likely influence on behaviour. Circulate and ask, “What evidence supports that message?”

4. 27–42 min · Fact-checking investigation. Reveal the fictional nutrition panel on the fact-checking slides:

Zing Bites, per 40 g serving: Energy 720 kJ; protein 3.2 g; fat 4.8 g; saturated fat 3.6 g; carbohydrate 27.5 g; sugars 14.2 g; sodium 210 mg. Per 100 g: energy 1800 kJ; fat 12 g; saturated fat 9 g; sugars 35.5 g; sodium 525 mg. Ingredients: wholegrain oats, wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil, milk powder, cocoa, salt.

Students use the panel and their prior learning to classify each claim as supported, partly supported or unsupported, recording evidence:

• “wholegrain goodness”
• “low fat”
• “naturally energising”
• “feel-good fuel”

Students must refer to serving size and distinguish a marketing statement from reliable evidence. Discuss that “low fat” cannot be confirmed without an agreed criterion or comparison, and “wholegrain” does not make the product low in sugar or saturated fat.

5. 42–51 min · Influence and decision-making. In groups of four, students respond to the prompt on the discussion and strategy slides: “A friend chooses Zing Bites because it sponsors the school sports team. What could influence their choice, and what could they do before deciding?” Groups create three strategies, such as checking the nutrition panel, comparing similar products, looking beyond the front-of-pack message, considering portion size, and asking a trusted adult or health professional. Groups share one strategy and one possible marketing influence.

6. 51–57 min · Individual application. Students complete the final scenario on the food marketing investigation worksheet: “You have two minutes to choose a snack. One package has a sporting endorsement and the other has clearer nutrition information.” They write a short evidence-based response using the structure: The message may influence me by… I would check… My informed choice would be… because… Provide time for two students to read responses.

7. 57–60 min · Exit ticket. Finish with the retrieval practice exit ticket slips. Students answer: “Name one persuasive technique; explain one way marketing can influence behaviour; and state one strategy for checking a health claim.” Collect slips at the door and ask students to rate their confidence from 1–5.

Resources

• the Food Marketing: Can We Trust the Message? slide deck
• the food marketing investigation worksheet
• the retrieval practice exit ticket slips
• Projector or interactive display
• Whiteboard and markers
• Coloured pens or highlighters
• Printed fictional advertisement and nutrition panel
• Timer

Assessment

• Listen for accurate use of marketing vocabulary during pair and group analysis.
• Check whether students identify techniques and use nutrition-panel evidence rather than repeating advertising claims.
• Use the exit ticket to identify students needing further support with serving size, health claims or evidence.

Differentiation

• Provide a word bank, colour-coded claim/evidence boxes and sentence starters: “The advertiser wants…”, “This may influence people because…”, and “The panel shows…”.
• Read the advertisement and nutrition panel aloud; allow students to highlight, dictate or type responses. Pair EAL/D learners with supportive peers and use simple visual icons for techniques.
• For students requiring adjustments, reduce the number of claims to two, provide a completed example and check understanding after each instruction.
• Extend confident students by asking them to rewrite one marketing claim so it is more accurate, or compare the product’s per-serving and per-100 g information mathematically.

Literacy, numeracy and teacher notes

• Literacy: students interpret persuasive language, discuss audience and purpose, and write an evidence-based recommendation.
• Numeracy: students compare serving size with per-100 g values and interpret quantities of sugar, saturated fat and sodium.
• Avoid presenting foods as “good” or “bad”; focus on evidence, context, frequency and informed choice. Remind students that marketing may target emotions, identity and belonging as well as taste.
• Do not ask students to disclose personal food choices or household circumstances. Use the fictional product throughout and reinforce that trusted adults and qualified health professionals can provide reliable advice.