Buzzwords might be influencing your shopping choices

Grocery shopping is a part of my weekly routine I look forward to. It gives me a short escape from my busy schedule, an opportunity to buy ingredients I can enjoy and have fun cooking with, and it presents a challenge to find the best deals I can get my hands on. Flyers from most stores usually stick to just listing sale prices, but one day a particularly unique section of a store flyer caught my attention. The section was titled “Natural Foods,” listing items such as organic bananas, yellow onions, coconut yogurt, and popcorn.

What makes those certain foods natural? Does that mean other foods not listed on this page — like lettuce, pork chops, or rice — are not natural? What does natural food even mean? These questions ran through my head as I scoured the flyer, trying to find an explanation to the questions I had. The flyer didn’t give me an immediate answer, but it did leave me thinking about it for days to come.

By no means am I an expert on food labelling and product advertising, but I’ve been paying more attention to the subject matter since receiving and onslaught of food and lifestyle posts on my Instagram feed, and because of the lectures I’ve had on food labels and health myths in my nutrition classes. I’m curious as to what other shoppers think of when they see food packages or marketing, and I wonder if others put as much meticulous and scrutinizing thought into it as I do. I’ve come to the assumption that at some point, everyone must have questioned food labels or scratched their heads at advertising to some degree. and so on use these kinds of buzzwords to attract your attention and draw in business. They utilize language in a way that takes advantage of what’s popular and desirable in society to generate a particular response in the consumer. A cultural shift has happened — and continues to happen — towards being more health-conscious, where people tend to buy healthier items to avoid non-communicable and chronic conditions or even simply to live healthier and more enjoyable lives. The rise of the latest miracle superfood, the hottest health trend, and the newest ‘quick-fix’ product is immersed in the types of foods, labels, advertisements, and media pieces we see. It presents a chance for shoppers to quickly and easily associate these exciting and culturally-relevant buzzwords with measurable improvements on their health. For a long time, I’ve correlated terminology such as ‘low-fat,’ ‘no preservatives,’ ‘low-calorie,’ ‘non-GMOs,’ or ‘gluten-free’ with better health, and I still sometimes find myself buying products solely on the basis of these words.

You might not realize it, but the words written across your favourite breakfast cereal, in the flyer headings at your local store, or in a social media post have the potential to invoke a discernible response in you that impacts your choices. Buying orange juice with a ‘certified non-GMO’ seal on the label might make you feel satisfied in your health-conscious and eco-friendly purchase. You might reach for that bottle of organic paprika that’s a few dollars more instead of the paprika you used to buy since your favourite influencer said that organic is better. You may get sugar-free cookies to align yourself with your New Year’s resolution of consuming less refined sugar.

Something else that should be brought into the conversation around the impacts of language on food labels and in advertising is how words are interpreted. The definitions of words and phrases used to describe food, along with many other products, are inherent to understanding but are not always as clear-cut as the diction

Icons by Iconfinder

ary makes them out to be. Words to describe and market food have various connotations and subtle nuances that differ whether you take the perspective of a food company selling their product, the everyday consumer acquiring goods, or even the government regulating packaging, labelling and advertising.

Some terms also have larger room for interpretation, or a ‘grey area’ in how they are perceived. For instance, the word ‘natural’ in an everyday context is an adjective describing something created or living in nature. You might easily conclude that a food deemed natural is good for you based on this dictionary definition. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), ‘natural’ foods don’t contain added vitamins, minerals, additives or flavours and aren’t significantly processed (except for water removal), which doesn’t necessarily address how the food was grown or processed. Another term is ‘low fat,’ which the CFIA has defined as a food containing equal to or less than three grams of fat per serving size. The definition sounds straightforward — and makes the product sound automatically healthier — but that same product most likely has additional sugar or salt to compensate for the lower amount of fat.

Next time you read a grocery flyer, food package, or health article, I encourage you to give some thought as to what message it’s trying to tell you. If you are unsure about the wording or are simply curious, look at its meaning from credible sources. Misinformation — and more importantly, miscommunication — in the food and health industry is becoming commonplace. Doing some investigating enables you to make informed decisions based on your own understanding, and not because of a company, influencer, or trending article.

A claim, phrase, or buzzword on a food product or in advertising doesn’t solely indicate its effects on your health. Assessing information with a healthy dose of skepticism, along with evaluating how something makes you feel and how it works for you is the best option. I hope this article makes you think twice about the language you see in your local store, in your favourite restaurant, or on your social media feed, so you can make educated food choices and can take charge of your purchases and health.