Badgers Against Secret Sugars

Social Marketing Communication Campaign

Communication Arts 368 Spring 2013

University of Wisconsin-Madison
 Planning: People learn at a young age what food is referred to as unhealthy such as

desserts, soda and candy. People know these foods are full of sugar and can only be consumed

in moderation, however often they are not told about the equally dangerous sugars added to

processed food. Processed foods including bread, pasta sauce and salad dressings can contain

man-made sugars to increase shelf life. These additive sugars fuel the obesity epidemic

occurring in the United States today. The sugars are usually hidden to the consumer, often

presented by different names on nutrition labels and slipped into foods that culturally are

believed to be healthy. With sneaky sugars as the topic of our communication campaign, it is

our goal to persuade consumers, in particular students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,

to increase their knowledge of foods containing unnatural sugars and to change buying behaviors

toward healthier products. We want to induce healthier shopping and eating behavior including

checking labels for unnatural sugars, purchasing more fresh fruits and vegetables as well as

fewer processed items and eating healthy on-the-go foods instead of processed snacks such as

granola bars.

When students leave for college, they become completely in control of what food they

purchase and consume. Freshmen concerned with gaining the daunting “freshman fifteen” are

faced with choices such as ice cream, sugary soda mixed drinks and plenty of unhealthy takeout.

In attempts to avoid these commonly known “bad foods,” they may believe they are eating

healthy by making certain diet choices. Considering the small budgets and busy schedules of

college students, buying decisions are centered around snacks that can be eaten on the run and

inexpensive processed foods such as frozen meals. While it is less expensive and easier to

participate in these behaviors, students may not be aware of the sugars embedded in these items.

Students have incorrect beliefs about what foods contain “sneaky” sugars, how to spot products

with additive sugars and lack knowledge of the substitutes for these unhealthy foods. It is
important that they become informed about the health effects of eating both processed and

natural sugar in order for their knowledge to translate into healthy choices when buying groceries

or at choosing a meal in the dining halls. Our goal is to bring awareness to students at UW-

Madison about foods with hidden sugars and expand their knowledge of natural and healthy

substitutes. We want to change college students’ grocery shopping behavior and attitudes toward

processed foods. We chose college students as a target audience because they make biased

choices towards less expensive and time-saving food choices.

Theory: To grab our target audience’s attention in a pre-contemplative state, we will use

fear and shock value to demonstrate their currently unknown vulnerability to hidden sugars. In

doing so, we will deploy our fearful messages in several locations and on several items across

campus as well as online through social media to induce accessibility theory. Embedded in these

messages will be other heuristic cues such as source attractiveness and likability. Once UW-

Madison students hear about the issue and move into a contemplative state, we can employ social

proof messages to emphasize other college students who consume fruits and vegetables with

natural sugars and pack them for quick snacks instead of processed items. We will also persuade

students, especially those with high need for cognition, to learn about and share their findings

about hidden sugars and natural substitutes with the principle of reciprocity. In exchange for a

free banana, we will request students to visit our social media sites and share information via our

Facebook page, Twitter page and blog to induce diffusion theory. Furthermore, they will assist

in spreading our messages more quickly through word of mouth via interpersonal channels.

In accordance to the elaboration likelihood model, our campaign incorporates both

peripheral and central processing techniques. Peripheral processing theories employed in this

persuasive communication campaign include select trigger features of automatic compliance,

source factors, emotional tools, and accessibility. Central processing principles applied include
the social judgment theory, diffusion theory and expectancy value theory. According to social

judgment theory, we have the opportunity to change students’ attitudes about unhealthy food.

We would like students to assimilate our message to their current latitude of acceptance

regarding unhealthy food. By demonstrating that products with hidden sugars have the same

characteristics as their preconceived understanding of unhealthy food, they will assimilate the

concept of hidden sugars as equally unhealthy. The following tactics will be collaboratively

effective in changing attitudes in accordance to the expectancy value equation. Our target

audience will change their beliefs about what foods are unhealthy and their evaluation of these

new beliefs will be positive due to the positive associative value that will be placed on the

messages and media, stimulating and broadening these beliefs. In theory, the summation of

these beliefs and their respective positive values reaches the equivalence necessary for attitude

change. A change in beliefs can lead to a change in attitudes. We can then suggest a change in

behaviors to buy and eat less processed foods while increasing efficacy with alternative choices.

Communication Analysis: To gain a better understanding of UW-Madison students’

current attitudes and beliefs, we performed a survey analysis using www.surveymonkey.com and

invited fellow peers to participate. We received responses from 51 freshman (37%), sophomores

(25%), juniors (20%), seniors (14%) and graduate students (4%). Although the majority of

participants currently believe eating healthy is important (82.6%), many still consume items with

potentially high-processed sugar content such as granola bars (64.6%), coffee drinks (66.7%),

reduced-fat foods/frozen meals (43.1%) and pasta sauce (46%) at least once a week. As

predicted, when asked to list unhealthy foods, most participants provided commonly known “bad

foods” such as ice cream, candy, soda, cake, pudding and donuts. Surprisingly, some respondents

picked up on the topic of the survey and provided answers such as white bread, some cereals and

some yogurt. Others listed yogurt, bread, milk, and even fro-yo as healthy in regards to sugar
content. The one food that most of our participants did recognize as unhealthy was white bread.

Over half of the students (66.6%) reported rarely or never eating white bread. Thus, the survey

data portrays a limited understanding of hidden sugars, primarily focused on choosing whole

grains instead of white. Our goal is to fill in this missing knowledge by informing students of

other foods similar to white bread that contains hidden or processed sugars.

The survey results also demonstrate the need to reinforce current attitudes about avoiding

sugar consumption and continuing to read nutrition labels whenever possible. Close to 50

percent of the respondents said they usually check or always check labels. We can reinforce this

behavior while informing our target audience of secret sugars by creating awareness of

alternative aliases for sugar on labels such as fructose, saccharose, syrups, maltodextrin and more.

The data analysis also informed us that the average student reported frequently eating on-the-go

(M=3.02). This helps us tailor our message to fellow UW-Madison students by handing out free

snacks such as fresh fruit, easily eaten on-the-go, and providing substitutes that are feasible for

busy lifestyles. A large portion of our sample were freshman who are also more susceptible to

the infamous “freshman fifteen” and are often faced with more pre-made choices when eating in

the dining halls. Although we plan on targeting all college students at UW-Madison, we would

like to segment the students by year. We would be able to provide tailored messages to freshmen

due to their vulnerability as new college students learning how to be independent, how to balance

a busy, cash-strapped life and how to prevent first year weight gain. It is important to note that

our sample population may be positively skewed due to sampling bias. We estimate that our

friends are slightly above average in terms of staying healthy as many friend groups eat and

exercise similarly due to consciously and inadvertently picking up on each others’ healthy habits.

Implementation: Putting the above theories into action, we plan to utilize both physical

and online media that reinforce each other. UW-Madison students have a lot of school spirit and
find pleasure in identifying themselves as a Badger. Thus, our slogan and campaign name will

be “Badgers Against Secret Sugars” and will appear on all of our final products (see appendix).

Our physical products consist of banana handouts with an attached information tag,

informational tray posters and reusable grocery shopping bags. Our online tools include a

Facebook page, Twitter account, blog and channels for us to spread our television/YouTube

Public Service Announcement.

A PSA will implement our communication campaign and utilize several components in

order to make an impact on our target audience. First, the video will consist of an average male

and an attractive female creating a humorous plot. The attractive female will seek to persuade

the male to change his eating behaviors. Based on the theory of attractiveness, the man will be

far more likely to not only listen to the women but make a change. Additionally, the PSA will

use fear and efficacy. A severe threat will be presented through the woman, saying the man’s

choice to eat applesauce over an apple can lead to diabetes, heart disease or worse. Next, the

PSA will demonstrate threat susceptibility, which is the man’s vulnerability of eating high-sugar

items, such as applesauce, without knowing it is unhealthy for him. The response efficacy

highlights the natural substitutes available to substitute processed foods. Finally, self-efficacy

emphasizes that the man can learn which foods contain hidden sugars and the alternatives he can

purchase instead. By eating an apple rather than applesauce, which implies making food choices

with less unnatural sugar, the man will maintain a healthier lifestyle and avoid disease. The PSA

will ensure that the man would be moved into danger control rather than fear control so that the

message has an impact and enforces change.

We will implement our reciprocity handout after making the PSA, and it will consist of a

banana and tag attached to it. The tag has two social proof quotes informing students that many

fellow badgers make the healthy choices daily even though they lead busy lives and are often
eating on-the-go. The tag also includes a short message reminding students how easy it is to

pack fresh fruit and vegetables in order to defend themselves against sneaky sugars without

telling them what to do, avoiding psychological reactance. The bottom of the tag fulfills their end

of reciprocity asking them to visit our social media sites to view our humorous PSA and to share

it with their friends. We provide another incentive to doing so by entering those who share the

video into a contest to win a gift certificate to the Fresh Madison Market. This also encourages

our partnership with the grocery store by freely marketing their name. In addition to spreading

this video, our social media sites will post and tweet meal and snack recipe ideas with reduced

sugar options and continually inform students of all up-to-date information about sneaky sugars

such as their diverse aliases, reminding them to “read it before you eat it” when it comes to

nutritional labels. As one of the top trending social media platforms in society, Twitter also

employs social proof messages, assuring students that because other badgers are tweeting about

their combat of secret sugars, it must be a valid and socially desirable behavior and they should

join in.

Our final products, the reusable bag and tray posters, provide accessible information and

reminders to students at their point of purchase and consumption. When they see these

reminders, their memory of our campaign will encourage students to read labels and reconfirm

the fear of gaining weight. This will guide behavior because students will be in tune with their

attitudes about remaining healthy and they will not only have an easier time making a decision

but will also act on it more consistently. In addition to our accessible persuasive messages, our

messages directed at freshmen incorporate the theory of fear of the “freshman 15.” We used the

following threat severity: “Sugar consumption is linked to weight gain. Researchers at Auburn

University in Alabama followed 131 students over four years of college and found that 70% of

them gained weight by graduation (an average of 12, and up to 37 pounds). The overall
percentage of students found to be overweight increased from 18% to 31%”. Following up, we

provided self-efficacy by listing foods with sneaky sugars and their respective substitutes with

the statement, “You can avoid gaining this weight by joining your fellow badgers in living a

healthy lifestyle. Here are some ways you can reduce your sugar intake: change pasta sauce to

olive oil with Parmesan cheese on whole-wheat pasta, switch white bread to 100% whole wheat

bread, instead of having a granola bar for breakfast, choose a whole wheat bread, such as

Autumn Wheat by Kashi, and instead of regular yogurt, switch to Greek yogurt.” With this

abundance of self-efficacy information, efficacy is greater than the threat and we can

successfully induce danger control behaviors.

Our hybrid media package provides an effective audience-media fit for college students

at UW-Madison. Students love free giveaways, and they are always connected on the Internet,

whether it be on their laptops, iPads, smart phones or all three. Students are accustomed to

spreading information pertinent to their entertainment and well being through these outlets and

are even more likely to share videos because it is easy, quick and provides entertainment to their

friends. By placing our physical products in campus locations where students make eating and

food-buying decisions, such as the Fresh Madison Market, Union Delis and dining halls, we will

make the information easily accessible to their current lifestyle. We plan on utilizing these

establishments as well as Bucky Badger as community contacts. The Fresh Madison Market can

distribute our reusable grocery bags, the dining halls can place the posters on all of their trays

and the Union Delis can put our information sheets in their table stands. Students who have

attended football games know the humorous attempts of Bucky Badger holding up his “Healthy

Choices” sign as a way to cover up the student section shouting, “We want more beer”. We can

run with this humor and have Bucky hand out our free bananas as a source of likability and
credibility. Overall, these physical items will route students to our online media for diffusion to

take effect.

Evaluation and reorientation: Evaluation of our campaign will incur with simple

measurement tools and periodic analyses of attitude progression. In exchange for the

opportunity to be in our campaign, we will ask the Fresh Madison Market to keep track of how

many students take a reusable bag and how many students bring the bag back for their

subsequent visits. We will ask them for casual observation data on how much fresh produce they

are selling along with our other substitute items before and after implementation of the reusable

bags to analyze any increases or decreases in purchases that could correlate with bag usage. We

will also collect observational data by sitting in dining halls during breakfast, lunch and dinner to

note whether or not students read or discuss the poster, and we will record their food selections.

We will also resend our survey to the same and new participants for longitudinal data measuring

any attitude change at select points throughout each phase of our campaign implementation. In

accordance to our goal, we will be able to measure the success of our campaign if these

measurements illustrate significant attitude and behavior change towards increased awareness of

secret sugars and decreased purchasing behavior of processed foods. In the long term, we would

like to continue this campaign after learning which strategies are most effective and further our

efforts to reach more students.

APPENDIX A:
 Read It Before You Eat It!

APPENDIX B:
APPENDIX C:

On average 74.5% of
your fellow Badgers
eat fresh fruit at
least 2 to 3 times a
week!
APPENDIX D:
APPENDIX E:
APPENDIX F:

Nutrition News Low-Sugar Recipes Healthy Options at Restaurants Fitness

Posts
May 1, 2013

Low-Sugar, Low-Fat Appetizer

Things You’ll Need

APPENDIX G: