Images of Health in Food Advertising

Debbie Danowski examines the use of health halos as misleading marketing in the advertising and branding of ultra-processed foods, demonstrating the impacts of messaging on consumer behavior and the health belief model.

This book traces the history of halos to investigate how elements of advertising such as influencer endorsement, visual symbolism, and key phrases like “all natural” are strategically employed to portray food as being healthier than it is.

Analyzing a wide range of examples from fruit snacks and candy to diet foods and meat alternatives, Danowski divides different halo techniques into three main categories—the natural and real halo, the nutrition halo, and the identity halo. These lenses, she posits, can be applied to the health belief model to achieve a fuller understanding of the social, narrative, and psychological tactics long leveraged by corporations to perpetuate health myths and influence consumer choice.