Peer Reviewed Source on Background of Mc Donalds

• Journal List
• BMJ Nutr Prev Health
• v.four(two); 2021
• PMC8718851

BMJ Nutr Prev Health. 2021; 4(ii): 510–518.

Comparing McDonald's food marketing practices on official Instagram accounts across xv countries

Omni Cassidy

¹ Department of Population Wellness, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York, U.s.a.,

Hye Won Shin

² Department of Public Wellness Diet, New York University Schoolhouse of Global Public Health, New York, New York, U.s.,

Edmund Vocal

² Department of Public Health Nutrition, New York University Schoolhouse of Global Public Health, New York, New York, The states,

Everett Jiang

^two Section of Public Wellness Nutrition, New York University Schoolhouse of Global Public Health, New York, New York, USA,

Ravindra Harri

² Department of Public Health Nutrition, New York University School of Global Public Wellness, New York, New York, Us,

Catherine Cano

² Department of Public Health Diet, New York University School of Global Public Health, New York, New York, United states of america,

Rajesh Vedanthan

¹ Section of Population Health, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York, The states,

Gbenga Ogedegbe

^ane Department of Population Health, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York, USA,

Marie Bragg

¹ Section of Population Wellness, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York, USA,

² Department of Public Health Nutrition, New York University Schoolhouse of Global Public Health, New York, New York, Usa,

Received 2021 Mar 29; Accepted 2021 Jun 29.

Abstruse

Background

Social media advertising by fast food companies continues to increase globally, and exposure to food advertizement contributes to poor diet and negative health outcomes (eg, cardiovascular disease). McDonald's—the largest fast food company in the world—operates in 101 countries, but footling is known about their marketing techniques in diverse regions. The objective of this study was to compare the social media advertizing practices of McDonald'southward—the largest fast food company in the earth—in 15 high-income, upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income countries.

Methods

We randomly selected official McDonald's Instagram accounts for xv high-income, upper-center-income and lower-center-income countries. Nosotros captured all the screenshots that McDonald'due south posted on those Instagram accounts from September to December 2019. Nosotros quantified the number of followers, 'likes', 'comments' and video views associated with each account in April 2020. Nosotros used content analysis to examine differences in the marketing techniques.

Results

The xv accounts collectively maintained ten million followers and generated 3.nine meg 'likes', 164 816 comments and 38.2 million video views. We identified 849 posts. The 3 lower-center-income countries had more posts (north=324; M, SD=108.0, 38.2 posts) than the five upper-eye-income countries (n=227; M, SD=45.iv, 37.5 posts) and vii high-income countries (n=298; M, SD=42.vi, 28.2 posts). Approximately 12% of the posts in high-income countries included kid-targeted themes compared with 22% in lower-heart-income countries. Fourteen per cent of the posts in high-income countries included price promotions and gratis giveaways compared with 40% in lower-heart-income countries.

Conclusions

Social media advertising has enabled McDonald's to reach millions of consumers in lower-heart-income and upper-center-income countries with disproportionately greater child-targeted ads and price promotions in lower-center-income countries. Such reach is concerning considering of the increased risk of diet-related illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, in these regions.

Keywords: dietary patterns, weight management

What this paper adds

• McDonald's posts 154% more posts in lower-middle-income countries compared to higher-income countries.

• McDonald's uses more child-targeted marketing themes in lower-middle-income countries compared to higher-income countries.

• McDonald's uses more wellness promotion themes in higher-income countries compared to lower-centre- and upper-middle-income countries.

Introduction

Poor diet is the leading cause of mortality worldwide,^{one 2} and places individuals at risk for obesity and non-catching diseases, such every bit type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.^{2 three} Although several factors influence diet, fast food has been linked to poor diet and obesity considering of its calorically dumbo, nutritionally poor quality.^4–6 More than 30% of US youth eat fast food daily,⁷ and fast food eating place chains have speedily increased their global presence, especially in lower-income countries.^eight McDonald's is the largest fast food company in the earth with more than xiv 000 restaurants in the US and nearly 22 000 restaurants in other countries.⁹ Given fast food'southward bear on on nutrition and negative health outcomes,⁴ the growth of fast nutrient companies' internationally, especially in lower-income countries, may exacerbate the double healthcare and economical burden of communicable and non-catching diseases.^{ane ten}

Although the human relationship between the growth of fast food companies internationally and the private demand for fast food is complex, fast nutrient advertisements ('ads') play an influential role in persuading individuals to consume fast foods.¹¹ Nutrient and beverage ads are ubiquitous on television set and in outdoor settings, but social media ads are an emerging expanse of concern.¹² Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world,^xiii and allows fast nutrient companies to annunciate products through posting images and videos, and engaging with their followers through accompanying captions and comments. Currently, 60% of the earth'due south population uses the cyberspace and l% of the users are agile on social media.¹⁴ Co-ordinate to i growth projection, well-nigh 60% of global internet users were using social media in January 2020, which equates to over 3.8 billion social media users.¹⁵ In an online study surveying over 15 000 adults from the United states of america, the UK, Canada, Mexica and Commonwealth of australia, 64% of participants reported exposure to sugary drink marketing through online ads or social media.¹⁶ Fast food companies that annunciate on social media, therefore, are capable of increasing their market place to people around the earth who regularly access social media.

Data increasingly prove that the bulk of food and beverage ads on social media are for unhealthy foods and beverages.^17–19 In one study examining social media food and drink ads in Australia, all of the foods advertised on Facebook pages managed by the food and potable brands were for energy-dense, nutritionally poor foods.¹⁷ Another study showed that 77% of the social media ads Canadian adolescents viewed inside a 5-minute menstruum were for unhealthy food and beverage ads, and 97% of these foods were considered high in fat, carbohydrate and salt.¹⁸ Exposure to these types of ads may contribute to food preferences and consumption that may precipitate poor diet and agin health outcomes in these communities.¹¹

One of largest qualitative analyses of fast food ads across different countries examined 16 food and beverage visitor websites in Frg and the US (high-income countries (HICs)), Mainland china and Mexico (upper-heart-income countries (UMICs)) and India and the Philippines (lower-middle-income countries (LMICs)).^xx Results suggested that fast nutrient companies advertised more healthy products in wealthier countries compared with lower-income countries, demonstrating segmentation in their advertising techniques beyond countries.²⁰ That report as well establish that nutrient and beverage companies promoted more philanthropic activities in lower-income countries compared with wealthier countries.²⁰ Another content assay examining 2 000 social media posts in the US demonstrated that 30% of posts included captions that attempted to collaborate straight with social media users.^nineteen Little is known, however, about the marketing techniques of a unmarried food visitor in countries with varying economic statuses.

To determine if at that place are differences in the marketing techniques across multiple countries of varying economical statuses, the objective of this report was to compare Instagram posts for McDonald'southward, the largest global fast food franchise,^xiii in a subset of 15 countries of varying gross domestic products (GDPs) and: (1) determine the number of followers, 'likes', comments, posts, video posts and total views of videos and (ii) quantify the frequency with which McDonald'due south uses different marketing strategies.

Methods

We identified a sample of 15 countries based on three criteria: (1) if McDonald's was sold in the state; (two) if the country had an official McDonald's Instagram page and (3) if the country could exist categorised every bit an HIC, UMIC or LMIC based on 2019 World Bank classifications.²¹ We chose McDonald's because it is the largest global fast food chain,¹³ and selected Instagram because it is i of the almost popular social media platforms for adolescents and young adults with approximately i billion active users per calendar month.^{22 23}

Data collection

Nosotros collected data from September 2019 to April 2020, and the Instagram posts were gathered from September to Dec 2019. We used McDonald's corporate website to generate a list of all the countries with McDonald's fast food chains (see figure 1 for menses chart). We and so made a listing of all official McDonald's Instagram accounts for each of the countries. To determine if the Instagram account was officially associated with McDonald'south, nosotros confirmed the presence of a 'verification badge' on the Instagram profile. A verification badge is a blueish checkmark logo that appears adjacent to the account's name that signifies that Instagram has confirmed the account is associated with a celebrity, public figure or global brand. McDonald'south only had 1 official account for well-nigh of the countries. If McDonald's had more than one official account for the land, we used the account with the nigh followers. From this list, we selected a subset of xv countries, ensuring that at to the lowest degree one country was represented in each of the continents in which McDonald's operates. The land remained in the sample pool if information technology met the inclusion criteria. If a land did not encounter the criteria, information technology was excluded, and another country was randomly selected. This process was repeated until all 15 countries met the criteria. We initially identified and selected countries based on Gdp. On further reflection, we determined that classifications from the 2019 World Bank Database were more than appropriate.²¹ Nosotros so grouped the countries into their corresponding economic categories based on the three classifications defined by the 2019 Globe Bank Database: HIC, UMIC and LMIC.²¹ We screen captured all posts on the official McDonald's Instagram accounts from one September 2019 to 31 Dec 2019. In April 2020, we recorded paradigm blazon (image or video) and number of 'likes', comments and video views, if applicable.

Menstruation nautical chart of state pick.

Establishing the qualitative codebook

To evaluate the posts for their marketing content, we developed a qualitative codebook based on similar qualitative nutrient marketing studies.^{xix 24} The codebook (online supplemental appendix 1) included the following variables: (ane) food and/or drink shown; (2) celebrity/influencers/sponsorships; (3) healthy habits (eg, exchanging fries for apples); (4) kid-targeted (eg, showing a picture of a child or adolescent); (5) special cost promotions; (6) promote McDonald'due south app, website or McDelivery; (7) free giveaway/voucher; (8) culturally relevant (eg, religious symbols); (nine) engagements (eg, encouragements to like, comment or read the bio); (10) philanthropy/charity; (11) emotional appeal; (12) new branch (ie, promoting a newly opened McDonald's eatery) and (13) humour (eg, memes). We discussed the definition of each codebook category to ensure consistency amid coders. The definition of each marketing technique is summarised in table 1.

Table 1

Definition of the marketing techniques

Marketing technique	Definition
Food and/or drinkable shown	Any visual nutrient or drink item. (For food, this does not include packaging. For drinkable, this can include beverage cups every bit long as the post does not conspicuously show that the cup is empty. Background menu with images of nutrient/beverage does not use to this category also as blithe food/drinkable unless it is role of the concept of the mail)
Celebrity/influencer/sponsorships	Includes a reference to the person or organisation (must accept over 10K followers) on the mail or is partnering with McDonald's
Healthy habits	Promotes healthy diet, exercise, conservation efforts, local farms, didactics or any other ideas that promote the well-being of the person or surround
Child-targeted	Shows a kid, cartoons, Happy Meal, toys, characters (eg, from films) or whatever other child-related themes
Special cost promotions	Discount offers, 2-for-one deals, buy-1-become-free deals or any other reduced-price promotions
Promote McDonald'southward App, website or McDelivery	Promotes app, website or McDelivery in any way (eg, app store logo)
Free giveaway/voucher	Includes competitions with free prizes, free food offers and whatsoever other complimentary giveaways that do not include purchasing another particular
Culturally relevant	Includes holidays, famous monuments (has to exist relevant to its country), religious symbols or any other reference to the country'south culture
Engagement	Encourages to like, comment, read the bio or any other manner to interact with the post
Philanthropy/charity	Undertakes whatsoever charitable work
Emotional entreatment	Evokes emotional reaction (eg, happiness) or allows to reminiscence
New co-operative	Markets a new regional McDonald's that has opened
Humour	Any post that attempts to use comic marketing (eg, memes, jokes, comic actions)

Pilot coding

Pilot coding was conducted to found interrater reliability using 10% of the posts. An acceptable level of reliability was determined by at least a ninety.0% agreement or Krippendorf alpha coefficient of 0.70 or above.²⁵ Five coders were initially trained on the codebook and participated in the pilot coding. However, but two coders achieved a Krippendorf alpha coefficient of at least 0.70 or 90.0% agreement for all variables, and they coded the remaining ninety% of the data. The codes for the remaining iii coders were discarded. Because the two coders rated the same sample of data, at that place were ii potential sets of data. The last dataset was composed of half of each of the two coders' sets of data based on random option. Some of the countries' Instagram accounts had posts that were not in English language, so we used Google Translator in the Chrome extension to translate these posts into English.

Data belittling program

We used R V.1.2.1578 to deport descriptive analyses to calculate the number of followers, 'likes', comments, posts, video posts and video views associated with each McDonald'due south Instagram account. We also calculated the frequency that McDonald's used each marketing technique across the 15 countries.

Patient and public involvement

The project does non include man subjects and was exempt from human being subjects ethics review commission. It was non appropriate or possible to involve patients or the public in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of our enquiry.

Results

Descriptive characteristics

Nosotros identified McDonald'southward franchises in a total of 118 countries, and McDonald's had official Instagram accounts for 62 countries. Our subset of 15 countries (25% of all accounts) included: the US, Australia, Canada, the Britain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Portugal and Panama (HICs); Romania, Lebanon, Malaysia, Brazil and S Africa (UMICs) and Republic of indonesia, Egypt and India (LMICs). These countries collectively maintained 10 1000000 followers, generated 3 883 952 'likes', 164 816 comments, and 38 247 012 video views, and posted 849 times during the 4-month data collection catamenia (encounter table 2). The boilerplate numbers of followers were 2.i million (LMICs; 0.nine% of Instagram users), iii.5 1000000 (UMICs; two.0% of Instagram users) and 4.4 million (UICs; 1.5% of Instagram users; see tabular array 2). The countries with the highest number of followers included the US (3.7 meg; HIC), Brazil (2.6 million; UMIC) and Indonesia (i.1 1000000; LMIC).

Table two

Characteristics of McDonald'southward Instagram business relationship by land for the third quartile of 2019

Income category	Land	Total Instagram users (n)*	McDonald'southward Instagram followers (n)	Posts during study catamenia (due north)	Average likes per post (north)	Average comments per post (north)	Total videos (n)	Average views per video (north)
Loftier	US	120M	3.7M	14	xix 095	650	5	160 447
	Australia	9.7M	155K	85	1192	37	twenty	7317
	Canada	13M	117K	63	1003	51	18	22 195
	UK	24M	180K	16	3615	136	1	42 293
	UAE	three.8M	74.7K	43	881	44	30	17 516
	Portugal	3.8M	118K	xvi	9334	59	0	–
	Panama	1.6M	267K	61	476	fourteen	26	6064
Subtotals†		175.9M	4.4M	298	5085	141	100	42 638
Average (SD)†		44.0M (66.3M)	659K (1.3M)	43 (28)	2373 (4808)	71 (170)	25 (32)	20 735 (44 329)
Upper-middle	Romania	iii.7M	44.6K	45	2070	fourteen	0	–
	Lebanese republic	1.6M	121K	108	2910	178	12	xviii 715
	Malaysia	12M	475K	18	2234	56	v	33 796
	Brazil	77M	2.6M	41	35 258	1343	30	879 954
	South Africa	4M	46.4K	xv	534	10	ii	5100
Subtotals†		98.3M	three.5M	227	8601	320	49	234 391
Average (SD)†		32.8M (43.2M)	657K (i.1M)	45 (37)	8376 (28 741)	340 (1072)	16 (19)	529 989 (952 071)
Lower-center	Indonesia	63M	ane.1M	152	5480	248	58	71 218
	Egypt	11M	847K	88	3331	115	49	94 640
	Republic of india	80M	180K	84	1805	223	41	9172
Subtotals†		154M	2.1M	324	3538*	195*	148	91 676*
Average (SD)†		77.0M (59.1M)	709K (475K)	108 (38)	3944 (6195)	205 (408)	74 (50)	61 784 (192 219)
Yard full		1.1B	10M	849	5741*	219*	297	122 902*

We identified 153.7% more posts on average in LMICs compared with HICs. That is, we identified an boilerplate (SD) of 108.0 (38.two) posts in the LMICs as compared with 42.6 (28.2) posts in the HICs during the same time period.

Qualitative assay of marketing strategies

Kid-targeted marketing themes appeared more oftentimes in lower-income countries than HICs (see effigy 2). The reverse was truthful for wellness promotion themes. We identified 71 (22.0%, run across tabular array iii) child-targeted posts in LMICs, but but 33 kid-targeted posts (fourteen.5%) in UMICs and 37 (12.4%) in HICs. The HICs' accounts too portrayed more than healthy habits (n=fourteen, 4.vii%) compared with the UMICs' accounts (n=6, ii.6%) and LMICs' accounts (n=viii, ii.5%).

Food and beverage advertisements ('ads') shown and marketing strategies used past McDonald'due south on Instagram by economical nomenclature for the third quartile of 2019.

Table 3

Marketing strategies used by McDonald's on Instagram for each country for the tertiary quartile of 2019

Income category	Country	Food/ drink shown north (%)	Celebrity due north (%)	Health n (%)	Child n (%)	Price n (%)	App/ web n (%)	Give n (%)	Culture n (%)	Engage n (%)	Charity n (%)	Emotion n (%)	Branch n (%)	Sense of humor n (%)
Loftier	United states	10 (71.4)	5 (35.7)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	two (xiv.3)	0 (0.0)	two (14.3)	1 (vii.one)	1 (7.one)	1 (7.1)	0 (0.0)	one (7.1)
	Australia	43 (50.1)	10 (11.8)	eleven (13.0)	thirteen (15.three)	3 (three.5)	v (5.ix)	0 (0.0)	4 (four.7)	xx (23.5)	9 (10.6)	32 (37.6)	0 (0.0)	12 (14.i)
	Canada	56 (88.nine)	8 (12.vii)	3 (iv.eight)	3 (4.eight)	ii (3.2)	2 (3.ii)	2 (three.2)	14 (22.2)	10 (fifteen.9)	0 (0.0)	3 (four.viii)	0 (0.0)	xiv (22.2)
	Uk	14 (87.5)	2 (12.v)	0 (0.0)	1 (six.3)	2 (12.5)	four (25.0)	2 (12.5)	3 (18.8)	4 (25.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	four (25.0)
	UAE	28 (65.one)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	six (14.0)	7 (16.3)	21 (48.eight)	14 (32.6)	v (11.6)	10 (23.3)	0 (0.0)	8 (18.6)	0 (0.0)	1 (2.3)
	Portugal	13 (81.3)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (6.3)	8 (50.0)	1 (6.iii)	0 (0.0)	1 (half-dozen.iii)	seven (43.eight)	0 (0.0)	5 (31.iii)	0 (0.0)	4 (25.0)
	Panama	32 (52.v)	11 (18.0)	0 (0.0)	13 (21.iii)	3 (4.nine)	iii (four.ix)	0 (0.0)	16 (26.2)	18 (29.five)	0 (0.0)	9 (14.8)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
Upper-middle	Romania	22 (48.9)	1 (2.2)	0 (0.0)	8 (17.eight)	0 (0.0)	half-dozen (13.3)	two (4.4)	12 (26.7)	23 (51.1)	1 (2.ii)	6 (13.3)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
	Lebanon	74 (68.v)	ane (0.9)	half-dozen (five.vi)	thirteen (12.0)	18 (xvi.7)	16 (14.viii)	21 (19.four)	35 (32.four)	76 (70.4)	one (0.9)	18 (16.7)	0 (0.0)	12 (eleven.i)
	Malaysia	sixteen (88.9)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (v.vi)	8 (44.4)	two (11.1)	0 (0.0)	1 (5.half dozen)	two (11.1)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	4 (22.2)
	Brazil	35 (85.4)	9 (22.0)	0 (0.0)	xi (26.8)	4 (9.viii)	9 (22.0)	0 (0.0)	3 (7.three)	5 (12.2)	i (ii.iv)	one (ii.4)	2 (4.9)	14 (34.i)
	S Africa	four (26.vii)	xiv (93.3)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	one (6.7)	0 (0.0)	3 (20.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
Lower middle	Indonesia	100 (65.8)	0 (0.0)	7 (4.6)	42 (27.6)	41 (27.0)	21 (13.8)	33 (21.2)	x (half dozen.6)	68 (44.7)	three (two.0)	28 (18.4)	eight (5.3)	3 (2.0)
	Egypt	61 (69.3)	5 (5.vii)	0 (0.0)	xv (17.0)	six (6.8)	21 (23.4)	xv (17.0)	23 (26.one)	9 (x.2)	0 (0.0)	viii (nine.one)	v (five.7)	three (three.4)
	India	52 (61.9)	18 (21.4)	1 (one.2)	14 (xvi.7)	12 (xiv.3)	19 (22.vi)	22 (26.ii)	16 (nineteen.one)	37 (44.0)	ane (1.two)	2 (two.iv)	0 (0.0)	14 (16.seven)
Totals		560 (66.0)	84 (9.9)	28 (3.three)	141 (xvi.half dozen)	114 (13.4)	132 (15.5)	111 (thirteen.ane)	145 (17.1)	291 (34.3)	17 (2.0)	124 (14.6)	15 (i.8)	86 (10.1)

Ii forms of price-related themes—costless giveaways and toll promotions—appeared more often in LMICs' accounts compared with HICs' accounts. Gratuitous giveaways were offered the most on LMICs' accounts (north=seventy, 21.six%) compared with the UMICs' accounts (n=23, 10.i%) and HICs' accounts (northward=eighteen, half dozen.0%). LMICs' accounts promoted the nigh special price promotions (n=59, 18.2%) compared with the UMICs' accounts (n=30, 13.2%) and the HICs' accounts (n=25, 8.iv%).

Nearly a quarter of all posts included culturally relevant themes, and engagement tools appeared more frequently in LMICs than HICs (see effigy 2). McDonald's promoted the opening of a new eating house more than frequently in LMICs' accounts (north=xiii, iv.0%) than UMICs' accounts (due north=2, 0.ix%) and HICs' accounts (due north=0, 0.0%; meet figure two). Afterwards rating each country, at that place were several notable marketing techniques that were unique to one or a small number of countries. For example, 71.4% (n=5) of posts with the healthy habit theme appeared alongside free books and Happy Meals in Indonesia's account and 50.0% (due north=iii) in Lebanese republic'south account. Commonwealth of australia'south account was the simply i in the sample that recognised or expressed gratitude to employees and promoted using locally grown produce. Additionally, 93.3% of South Africa's posts included a celebrity endorsement (n=fourteen; run across tabular array 3). We likewise observed country-specific marketing techniques for sports, religion and civilisation. The Instagram account from Canada, for example, featured the Raptors, a professional person basketball team from Toronto. Commonwealth of australia's account referenced '100% Aussie', and the McDonald's business relationship for Republic of india posted 9 images celebrating Diwali, Dussehra and Onam, whereas the account for the UAE and Lebanon depicted Eid and Halal-certified food.

Discussion

Fast food consumption is one factor influencing poor diet that may precipitate obesity and diet-related chronic illnesses.^four Exposure to fast food ads through social media may identify vulnerable groups—particularly those in lower-income countries—at increased risk for obesity and diet-related chronic conditions.^{1 26} This written report examined the social media food marketing strategies of McDonald's, the largest fast food franchise in the world, on Instagram accounts in a subset of 15 countries of varying economic categories. Overall, there were more than McDonald'due south Instagram posts, on boilerplate, on LMICs' accounts compared with HICs' accounts, but the data must be interpreted cautiously given the uneven sampling. Data as well showed that McDonald's offered more special price promotions and gratuitous giveaway/vouchers on accounts in LMICs compared with UMIC and HICs, suggesting that McDonald'southward may be using value price promotions as a marketing technique more than in LMICs compared with HICs. Toll is a key component of a marketing mix and is oftentimes used to aid consumer purchases, especially among lower-income communities who may apply price as a decision point.²⁷ Although no written report has directly examined price promotion marketing techniques on social media in unlike countries of varying economic categories, these findings are consequent with studies demonstrating the disproportionate corporeality of price promotion offers with food and/or beverages in lower-income areas.^27–29

More McDonald's Instagram accounts in LMICs used kid-targeted marketing techniques compared with the accounts in UMICs and HICs. Studies have found that many food and beverage companies promote unhealthy food and beverage products on social media using kid-targeted marketing,^{18 30} influencing make loyalty at a young historic period.³¹ 1 study has shown the powerful persuasive effect of using food companies' brand characters to market to children.³² Other studies take shown that fast nutrient companies unduly target children and young adolescents³³ and more than ofttimes use child-directed marketing in middle-income neighbourhoods compared with high-income neighbourhoods.³⁴ Although interpretation is limited due to our sample size and uneven sampling distributions, our findings will add to the growing literature because it highlights the possible human relationship betwixt child-targeted marketing techniques on social media and lower-income countries.

This study showed that McDonald'southward used celebrity/influencers/sponsorships endorsements more on Instagram accounts in HICs and UMICs compared with LMICs. The persuasive result of celebrity and influencer endorsements on food marketing has been demonstrated in many studies.^35–37 Celebrity and influencer endorsements may lead to consumers recognising brands more easily, viewing brands more than positively, and increasing the desirability of endorsed brands.^35–37 Social media influencers who endorse unhealthy foods, in item, may also pb to higher consumption of unhealthy foods among youth compared with influencers who endorse non-food products.³⁶ The similarity of the usage of celebrity endorsement betwixt the HICs' accounts and the UMICs' accounts could be attributed to the relatively high use of celebrity endorsement by Due south Africa's account, a UMIC. Therefore, a more than thorough understanding of the celebrity endorsement technique could be obtained with a larger sample size.

McDonald'south Instagram accounts in HICs featured more than healthy habits themes compared with accounts in UMICs and LMICs. This finding is consistent with a similar report by Bragg et al that suggests HICs' websites promote healthier nutrient alternatives compared with LMICs.²⁰ However, our definition of healthy habits included many different aspects of well-being (table 1), which may forestall straight comparison. Further studies are needed to more thoroughly assess the healthy habits category. For example, the salubrious habits variable could be divided into four smaller variables: reference to healthy diet (eg, apples, salad), reference to practice, promoting teaching, and promoting local produce.

Boosted considerations when interpreting these data are that McDonald's may operate differently in diverse countries. For example, McDonald's operating in the UK has a unlike chain of control and operating structure than a McDonald's in the US.³⁸ It is besides hard to identify which department manages the social media campaigns and whether the social media is coordinated inside the company or contracted to a social media marketing agency. In the US, the social media accounts are typically coordinated inside a company; notwithstanding, if accounts are contracted out in other countries, there may be additional variables to consider.³⁹ Other factors include whether the country'southward government tolerates Western civilisation, too equally freedom of media. In recent years, for instance, Lebanon has had a widespread government entrada to reduce social media accounts critical of the government.^twoscore These governmental differences may affect the data as McDonald's is seen as a Western symbol, which may not be tolerated in some regimes and governments. McDonald's may have to avoid certain Western ideologies in order to comply with authorities regulations.

In that location were several limitations to our study. This study was limited to a subset of 15 countries, so the results must exist interpreted with caution. We did not accept an equal number of countries for each income category and countries take different population sizes, which may skew the results. However, we were still able to generate preliminary data that could be used in future studies. We also used Google Translate, so we might have incorrectly translated some posts. In improver, this study did not explore the individual-level factors of consumers—the personal characteristics of McDonald's Instagram followers in the diverse countries (eg, age, household income), purchasing behaviours or consumption patterns resulting from post-obit these McDonald'due south accounts. Every bit previously noted, these and other factors are core to the complex relationship between consumer demand and nutrient companies. It will exist important for future food marketing studies to effectively examine this complexity. These data too do not provide data on additional factors that may influence personal social media utilize, including historic period or household income. Such data are typically proprietary and expensive to obtain. Even so, this study has several strengths. Information technology is the first to provide an exploratory analysis of Instagram usage past McDonald's, a single fast food company, in different countries of varying incomes. There are very few data examining the ways fast food companies may market products differently in other countries.

Conclusions

Equally the largest fast food franchise in the globe, McDonald'south provides fast nutrient to communities around the globe. As social media use grows, fast nutrient companies' social media ads may have unprecedented furnishings on dietary options, especially in lower-income countries.¹⁵ By targeting certain subsets through child-targeted ads and toll promotions, McDonald's social media ads may exacerbate healthcare issues in the most vulnerable countries in the world.^{1 26} These information back up the growing need to address the globalisation of food and beverage marketing in developing countries that may experience higher burdens of poor nutrition, obesity and related illnesses.^{1 26}

Footnotes

Contributors: OC substantially contributed to the estimation of data for the piece of work, drafting and revising information technology critically for important intellectual content. HWS, ES, EJ, RH and CC essentially contributed to the acquisition and analysis for the piece of work and drafting the work. RV and Go substantially contributed to the estimation of data for the piece of work and revising information technology critically for of import intellectual content. MB substantially contributed to the conception and blueprint of the work, interpretation of data for the work and revising information technology critically for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final version to exist published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of whatsoever part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Funding: This study was partially supported by NIH grant, DP5OD021373-01 (MB) and AHRQ grant, 1T32HS026120-01 (OC).

Disclaimer: The funding agencies did not have any role in the pattern, collection, analysis, or estimation of data or in writing the manuscript.

Competing interests: None declared.

Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

Author notation: The authors wish to brand it clear that so far as reference xi is concerned, McDonald's was non one of the fast food companies that were specifically referred to in this article.

Supplemental material: This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has non been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(southward) and are non endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does non warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not express to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for whatever fault and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

Data availability statement

Data are bachelor on reasonable request.

Ethics statements

Patient consent for publication

Not applicable.

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Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8718851/

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