Abstract
Globalization has led to changes in diets and advertising linked to audience preferences. This study examines local and global brand food and beverage advertising in Jamaican newspapers. Content analysis of 440 advertisements revealed the predominance of global fast-food brands, often including soda. Healthier foods were found in one in 10 ads. Information cues included taste, quality, and price, yet 14% of ads featured only a product image/logo. Advertisements reflected standardized and local strategies.
Despite some decline in newspaper readership and advertising revenue in the United States and Europe (McLennan & Miles, 2018), newspapers are flourishing in other markets, including the Caribbean (Storr, 2016). In the majority Black small island nation of Jamaica, three daily national newspapers have circulations estimated at more than 500,000 and reported profits of major news owners (i.e., profits of the major news owner in the country) of more than $118 million in 2014 (Storr, 2016). Newspaper readership in Jamaica is about 20.6%, primarily the Jamaica Gleaner and Jamaica Observer (Market Research Services Ltd [MRSL], 2014).
Newspapers provide relevant information for audiences, including information about available products and services through advertising. Newspaper advertising, historically, has provided audiences with more information (e.g., about price, availability, quality) than advertising in other forms of news media such as magazines or television (Pasadeos et al., 1987). One advertising professional indicated, “The medium is about information, and newspaper ads work well in this environment” (Reid & King, 2003, p. 16). Some product categories are particularly prevalent in newspapers, such as food and beverage advertisements (e.g., Kalliny, 2010).
Advertising has been considered a significant means of food promotion, particularly for foods that are high in fat, sugar, and sodium (e.g., Hebden et al., 2011; Henderson & Kelly, 2005; Jenkin et al., 2014). Food and beverage advertisements more frequently promote these foods and beverages low in nutritional quality on television channels (e.g., Kelly et al., 2010; Speers et al., 2011; Vilaro et al., 2017). However, few studies have focused on the content of newspaper food advertising or newspaper advertising in general (Abernethy & Franke, 1996; Nyilasy et al., 2011). Food and beverages were prevalent in newspaper advertising in Egypt and the United States, but not as frequent as automobiles and technology (Kalliny, 2010).
Given the international evidence that exposure to food advertising can alter food-related beliefs (Russell & Buhrau, 2015) and consumption of food (e.g., Halford et al., 2004; J. L. Harris et al., 2009), the investigation of the prevalence of certain foods being advertised is important. At the same time, low-income countries, including Jamaica, are being disproportionately impacted by the global nutrition transition toward a less healthy Western diet, which may be partially driven by transnational food brands’ marketing (Popkin et al., 2012).
Therefore, this study of food marketing via Jamaican newspapers is important for these reasons: (a) newspaper readership is high in this country, and the daily newspapers contain ample advertisements in full color; and (b) according to a World Health Organization (WHO; 2016) report, about 30% and 60% of Jamaicans suffer from obesity and being overweight, respectively. The Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ) expressed concern that middle- or older-age diseases are beginning at younger ages (Hibbert, 2018). Given that advertising in Jamaica has rarely been researched, this study explores how often global and local food and beverage brands are found in local media (newspapers) and which persuasion strategies are used.
Content analysis of food advertisements in Jamaican newspapers would not only illuminate the prevalence of unhealthy and healthy foods but also showcase their advertising strategy approach. Given that this is the first known study to examine advertising in Jamaica, the study is descriptive, focusing on the standardized versus local advertising style (Duncan & Ramaprasad, 1995) as well as content, including information cues (Resnik & Stern, 1977) present in the advertisements. Studies of global advertising often investigate whether global brands use a “standardized” (one-size-fits-all around the world) approach in their advertising versus a totally “local” approach that is tailored to the local culture (Taylor, 2010). Instead of investigating rigid binomial strategies of “standardized versus localized,” our study presents a more nuanced understanding of the extent of standardization or localization relevant for global positioning based on several factors that influence advertising executions: language, endorsers, and country of origin (Nelson & Paek, 2007; Schnettler et al., 2008). The research focus fits with a recent call by the editor for deepening and broadening research in this journal, to include questions such as, “How much national advertising is still going to newspapers? Which advertisers . . . ?” (Claussen, 2019). We offer an examination of newspaper advertising within an international venue, which is rare in the field.
Literature Review
Globalization in Jamaica and Standardized Versus Local Advertising Strategy
Like other low- and middle-income countries, Jamaica is experiencing globalization in lifestyle and diet. There has been a transition away from the traditional Jamaican diet and food preparation methods (featuring fruits and vegetables, boiled tubers, meats and fish prepared in soups and stews, by a pit-roasting method called “jerk,” and more recently, frying: Higman, 2008) toward highly processed westernized foods (featuring added sugars, fat, and sodium: Popkin et al., 2012). Western culture and media have resulted in “Americanization” of Jamaican food consumption—eating more heavily processed and energy-dense foods (e.g., Ferguson et al., 2018). Indeed, several U.S. brands can be readily observed throughout the country, particularly in the capital city of Kingston (e.g., Kentucky Fried Chicken [KFC]). Due in part to the prevalence of unhealthy Western fast-food and convenience foods, Jamaican childhood obesity rates (children 13–15 years) have doubled in 5 years (Hibbert, 2018). Furthermore, 58.4% and 26.8% of Jamaican adults are overweight and obese, respectively (WHO, 2016).
Ferguson and her colleagues’ research in Jamaica demonstrated a link between eating more unhealthy foods and having a strong U.S. orientation through process called remote acculturation (Ferguson & Bornstein, 2015; Ferguson et al., 2018; Ferguson & Iturbide, 2015). Remote acculturation is “a modern form of non-migrant acculturation toward a distant culture via indirect and/or intermittent contact with media, goods, and tourists originating from that remote culture” (Ferguson et al., 2018, p. 1360). Remote acculturation was first documented in Kingston, Jamaica, where at least one in three youth and some adults were estimated to have internalized the U.S. culture to a significant degree simply via globalization rather than migration (Ferguson & Bornstein, 2012, 2015). These individuals, called “Jahmericans” (Ferguson et al., 2019), identify strongly as Jamaicans but have also embraced the mainstream culture of the United States (European American/White culture, which Jamaicans refer to as “American”). Relative to their peers, these “Jahmericans” tend to act more American (e.g., U.S. fashion, accent), feel more American (e.g., part-American cultural identity), watch more U.S. TV programs (via cable television), and in turn, eat more American-/Western-style foods (e.g., Burger King, KFC, local fast food; Ferguson & Bornstein, 2015; Ferguson et al., 2018). Given the association between U.S. media and contemporary dietary practices in Jamaica, the investigation of global food and beverage brands and standardization of food marketing strategy was of interest in this study. The use of standardized, global strategies to promote food and beverage brands with their embedded values and persuasion tactics may be a contributing factor to increased remote acculturation. Similar to the ways in which broadcast media may be shaping Jamaican audiences’ identity and eating associations and behaviors, our study explore newspapers as another medium possibly causing similar results.
According to Nelson and Paek (2007), standardization occurs when advertisers purposely use the same advertising strategy and tactics around the world, which results in a consistent campaign to deliver unified themes. Standardization may be adopted due to practical reasons such as the perceived similarity in consumers and products (Duncan & Ramaprasad, 1995). A standardized advertising strategy is also aligned with global consumer culture (Alden et al., 1999), which aims to target consumers globally with shared values and cultures (e.g., cosmopolitanism, individualism). On the contrary, brands can use local strategies and tactics (a local consumer culture positioning), which manifests in the use of specific cultural elements such as “national” colors, people, rituals of particular nation/groups, or language/dialect (Alden et al., 1999; Nelson & Paek, 2007).
The use of standardized versus localized strategy in global advertising has been studied since the late 1990s (Ford et al., 2011; Okazaki et al., 2006; Onkvisit & Shaw, 1999) across media and cultural contexts mainly to understand advertising effectiveness. Our goal is to see how global and local brands communicate within this particular local, cultural context to see the exposure of audiences to the values and messages embedded in food and beverage product advertising in local newspaper outlets. In our content analysis, we use the following criteria to distinguish between standardized and localized advertising strategies of global and Jamaican brands. The first criterion is language (G. Harris & Attour, 2003; Nelson & Paek, 2007). As English is the most frequently used language of business (e.g., Tenzer et al., 2017), the use of English in advertising messages might be considered indicative of standardization. Conversely, the use of a local dialect would be a good “localized strategy” indicator, which specifically communicates with the advertisers’ target audience (Al-Siyami, 2017). In Jamaica, although their official language is English, a large majority of Jamaicans speak a form of English Creole, which is also known as Patois. The incorporation of the Jamaican local direct, Patois, may be considered as a local strategy.
The second differentiator is when the country of origin of a product or brand is made explicit (e.g., claim: made in the U.S.A.). Research has shown that a country of origin cue can impact the way audiences respond to advertisements and feel about the advertised products (e.g., Schnettler et al., 2008; Verlegh et al., 2005). This is because country of origin could indicate quality of the products or add positive/negative emotions or feelings of nationalism, which can influence consumer perceptions toward a product (Roxana-Denisa et al., 2016). Indication of country of origin may clearly differentiate local and global products and brands. Accordingly, a food label with “Jamaican food,” “Comes from Jamaica,” or “Made in Jamaica” may be a cue for revealing a localized strategy for food promotions.
Third, the spokesperson in the advertisement could be a determinant of consumer culture positioning (Nelson & Paek, 2007). The use of global celebrities and spokespersons can indicate a “global” positioning strategy, whereas the use of “local” spokespersons may relate to a localized strategy. More than 90% of Jamaican people are of African descent (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.), which indicates that using Black endorsers in advertisements may be a “local” strategy.
Other signals could suggest a local strategy. Local availability of the featured product or service or contact information is frequently used by local retail stores or local brands. Local newspaper advertisements are more likely to insert availability information compared with national newspapers (Abernethy, 1992). Availability information or other contact information enables consumers to easily access the products locally. Another local positioning cue would be inclusion of relevant situations or events in the news into the advertising.
Although a handful of studies explored standardized versus localized advertising strategy or positioning (e.g., Liu et al., 2016; Nelson & Paek, 2007; Onkvisit & Shaw, 1999), very few studies known to us investigate standard and local strategies in newspaper advertising (e.g., Paek, 2005).
Information Cues in Newspaper Advertising
Information communicated through advertising has also been extensively explored in the previous literature. In the mid-20th century, market information, including advertising, was considered important for consumers to make wise decisions in the marketplace (Rotzoll, 1976). Accordingly, Resnik and Stern (1977) raised questions whether the types of information and amount of information transmitted to consumers in advertising were enough for consumers to make buying decisions. The researchers conducted a content analysis of network television advertising looking for these 14 information cue criteria: (a) price or value, (b) quality, (c) performance, (d) components or content, (e) availability, (f) special offers, (g) taste, (h) packaging or shape, (i) guarantees or warranties, (j) safety, (k) nutrition, (l) independent research, (m) company-sponsored research, and (n) new ideas. In their view, to be informative and useful, an advertisement should meet at least one of these evaluative criteria. The results of their research showed that only 23.5% of the advertisements were informative, with food, personal care, and household items reflecting a lower proportion of information cues.
Information content has also been examined in U.S. newspaper advertising. Abernethy (1992) content analyzed 500 national and local newspaper advertisements based on Resnik and Stern’s (1977) coding method. They found that price, quality, and availability were the most frequently used information cues. Local newspaper advertisements contained price information and availability 5 times more often than national newspaper advertisements. Other common information types were components, special offers, and warranties. In the national newspapers, advertisements with no information cue appeared 6 times more often than in local newspapers. In other words, local newspaper ads contained more useful information to consumers compared with national newspaper ads. It is not surprising to discover this finding because local retailers use local media to promote their brands (Abernethy, 1992; Pasadeos et al., 1987). The study also indicated that newspaper ads provide more extensive information than television and magazines. The newspaper is considered to be a medium in which consumers expect and search information in detail compared with other media such as television.
As a nondurable, relatively low involvement product category, food advertising may not provide as many information cues as, say, electronics (Abernethy & Franke, 1996). For food advertising, consumers want nutrition information (e.g., van Buul & Brouns, 2015) and may use nutrition information cues in advertising for product evaluations; this is especially true if the consumers have some existing knowledge of nutrition already (e.g., Brucks et al., 1984). However, there is also evidence that food advertising, at least in the United States, is more often associated with fun, taste, and being “cool” rather than any providing information about nutrition (e.g., Folta et al., 2006).
Information cues in local versus global brands may also differ. Global brands may benefit from presenting less information, similar to soft-sell appeals, which focus on emotion or image. A global advertising strategy, using standardized advertising messages across countries, typically means the advertisements contain fewer information cues than localized messages (e.g., Mueller, 1991). Information cues may be the simple presentation of brand name, product, and slogan for global brands.
However, the style of print advertising and the role of information content in print media appear to be gradually transforming to image-based advertisements. Although apparently no studies gauge this trend in newspapers, McQuarrie and Phillips (2008) examined how magazine advertisements changed between 1969 and 2002. They conducted a content analysis of six components of magazine ad structure: the spaces assigned to pictures, the amount of body copy in the advertisement, the inclusion of brand name in the headline, the insertion of brand in pictures, the layout of pictures and text, and the presence of a stand-alone brand block. Their research suggested that magazine ads work as a daily reminder rather than market information. McQuarrie and Phillips inferred that this phenomenon might occur because of the advancement of computer technology, which has enabled advertisers to easily work with pictures. An alternative explanation could be consumers’ disengagement in advertising because individuals are overloaded with too much brand information at a time (Ha & McCann, 2008). This type of soft-sell approach (Alden et al., 1999; Sivulka, 2011), which implicitly conveys brand information with a brand logo or a product package image, is expected to grow in print media. However, there is little evidence as to whether newspaper advertising also uses such a soft-sell or hard-sell approach, and no research has been conducted on advertising in Jamaican newspapers. Therefore, the focus in this study is on the global and local food and beverage brand advertising in daily newspapers in Jamaica.
Research Questions
Method
To explore Jamaican food marketing culture in newspaper advertising, a content analysis was selected as the appropriate research method (Kassarjian, 1977). The unit of analysis was any food or beverage newspaper advertisement from the two largest Jamaican national newspapers, Jamaica Gleaner and Jamaica Observer. These newspapers account for approximately 90% of newspaper subscriptions in Jamaica (MRSL, 2014). Advertisements that depicted a food or beverage were collected and analyzed at two time periods (June–July 2016; September–October 2016). Duplicate ads were coded to evaluate how frequent each brand and food product category was viewed in the Jamaican food market. In total, 440 food and beverage advertisements were coded.
The newspaper ad coding scheme was developed based on previous literature (see Supplemental Appendix). We primarily focused on identifying the type of food or beverage presented in the ad, standard or local strategy (language, spokespersons, country-of-origin, etc.), and information cues (price, taste, etc.). Two research assistants were trained and independently coded all the advertisements. First, each coder analyzed 10 newspaper ads and then they compared and discussed their own interpretations of the ads. Ambiguous descriptions were clarified, and examples were added to the coding manual. This initial coding process was iterated until they reached an agreement on each coding item. We calculated the “Kalpha” (Krippendorff’s alpha) index for intercoder reliability of each coding item (Hayes & Krippendorff, 2007). All items tested via “Kalpha” were above .80 (see Table 1), indicating good reliability (De Swert, 2012).
Krippendorff’s Alpha (Kalpha, Intercoder Reliability)
Results
Prevalence of Food and Beverage Ads
Meat products such as chicken, sausage, frankfurters (n = 53, 12.00%) and snacks (n = 45, 10.20%) were also frequently advertised in the two Jamaican newspapers. The Best Dressed Chicken, a local company featuring fresh and frozen chicken, was the most frequent brand in the meat product category (n = 34, 64.15%). There were far fewer healthy food products such as fruits or vegetables (as recommended by the Jamaican food-based dietary guidelines, Ministry of Health Jamaica, 2015) among the 440 food and beverage ads. Only about 10% of the food products in Jamaican newspapers advertised products such as water (n = 18, 4.1%), fruits (n = 6, 1.4%), or milk products (n = 16, 3.6%). No ads promoted vegetables. Although Jamaican food-based dietary guidelines recommend a reduction in intake of salty and processed foods and of sugary foods and drinks, the percentage of foods with low nutrient quality (44.32%, for example, fast food, snacks, alcohol, confectionery) was much higher than the percentage of recommended foods and drinks (e.g., 9.09%, water, milk, fruits, and vegetables).
Interestingly, soft drinks were mainly presented within fast-food advertisements. Soft drink brands were not likely to be found on their own in the Jamaican newspaper advertisements. Only three soft drink ads (Pepsi, 0.7%) were captured in the analysis. However, soft drinks were frequently promoted through value (combination) meals of major fast-food restaurant ads such as KFC and Burger King. Cola drinks were featured in more than 70% of the 104 fast-food promotion campaigns. They were primarily displayed with main dishes (e.g., hamburger, pizza, fried chicken) and other side dishes (e.g., French fries). See Table 2 for more details.
Product Category of Brands in Jamaican Food and Beverage Newspaper Advertisements
Standardized Versus Localized Advertising Strategy
Local language use (e.g., patois), country of origin, and local spokesperson were captured for localization strategy coding. Of the 440 ads, 43 (9.77%) included Jamaican’s patois, which makes ads more friendly to Jamaican consumers. Grace Econo frankfurters included “brawta,” which is a patois meaning “free.” Other brands using Patois such as iCool (e.g., fi Life), The Best Dressed Chicken (e.g., Di Favorite on Lock), and Brunswick (e.g., Easy on Yeh Pocket). Country of origin was used as an explicit “local” cue in 7.50% (n = 33) of the food ads with phrases indicating that products are locally produced or represent “real Jamaican” products. For instance, Mount Pleasant Farm Chocolatiers highlighted their locally produced Jamaican chocolate products. Walkerswood advertisements featured “#RealJerkComesFromJamaica” and “Caribbean Foods” as part of their advertising copy. Brands were likely to underscore authentic quality by saying “Proudly Jamaican.” Only three ads (0.68%) featured known local spokespersons. Other local cues such as Jamaican weather or product availability information (e.g., contact information, address, event participating locations) were also observed (n = 53, 12.05%). The remaining brands used a mixed “glocal” strategy, which ambiguously used Black spokespersons but did not typically highlight Jamaican or Caribbean features in the ads (n = 59, 13.41%). See Table 3 for more details (Note: The strategy was coded as localization when the ad contained patois, Jamaican spokesperson, Jamaican origin, or other Jamaican/Caribbean features).
Standardized/Localized Advertising Strategy Use by Global and Local Food Brands
On the contrary, global brands such as Burger King were more likely to make advertisements that represented an international style (see Figures 1 and 2 for examples of a standardized advertising execution of global brands). The food ads typically focused on displaying food products and emphasizing product attributes and benefits (e.g., taste, discount, novelty, 76.65%). Only one ad included patois (0.60%), and none of them were attached to a specific country’s origin (0.00%). However, the fast-food restaurants often presented Black spokespersons and availability information. Interestingly, a few global fast-food restaurant brands specially conveyed local messages to their Jamaican audience. For example, advertisements featured a “congratulations message” to teenagers who completed Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT; education) exams in their ads (n = 5). KFC congratulated students who took the GSAT exam with a special note “GSAT Achievers are Big Deal: Congratulations and Best of Luck at the Next Level!” (see Figure 3). GSAT was the Jamaica’s national high school entrance exam during that time period. Also, two KFC ads featured a popular Jamaican singer, Christopher Martin, to promote KFC Big Deal menu. This collaboration with Christopher Martin was influenced by his hit tune, “I’m a Big Deal” (Jackson, 2017). Other than in a few cases, global brands tended to target consumers globally without any specific cultural cue in the advertisements.

Ceres fruit juice advertisement

Pepsi’s #SayItWith advertisement

KFC’s congratulations message to students taking GSAT exam

Walkerswood seasoning advertisement (#RealJerkComeFromJamaica)

JP Farm advertisement (Jamaican Fresh)
Other product categories did not typically use any particular strategy (e.g., confectionery, water/ice). See Tables 4, 5, and 6 (Note: The numbers in parentheses indicate percentages of three positioning usage by each product category. In addition, 30 of the 440 food ads were excluded from the tables because the ads only featured brand names without food display).
Advertising Strategy by Product Category: Healthier Food Products
Advertising Strategy by Product Category: Less Healthy Food Products
Advertising Strategy by Product Category: Other Food Products
Presence of Information Cues in Jamaican Newspaper Food Advertising
The aim of the last research question was to examine the extent and types of information cues presented in Jamaican newspaper food and beverage advertisements. To explore information content, the coding method suggested by Abernethy (1992) and Resnik and Stern (1977) was used. The most frequently used information content was taste (n = 142, 32.30%), followed by quality (n = 61, 13.90%) and price (n = 57, 13.00%). Among other food product categories, fast-food restaurants (37.32%), snack foods (25.35%), tea (5.63%), and coffee (4.93%) accounted for the higher percentage of advertisements conveying taste-related information compared with other categories. The quality of the product was normally conveyed by seafood ads (18.03%) and others (e.g., baby formula, seasoning, 19.67%). Interestingly, availability information was more likely to be presented by fast-food restaurants (36.58%) and dairy products (i.e., milk, 21.95%). Other common information cues that are not part of the Resnik and Stern (1977) coding scheme were captured and analyzed (n = 121, 27.5%). See Table 7 (Note: Multiple information cues were coded if available).
Information Cues Used in 2016 Jamaican Newspaper Food Advertisement Sample (N = 440)
One local information cue found in this sample of ads related to the usefulness of preparing for a hurricane in Jamaica. In some ads, canned foods and water products cast questions asking whether the audience was ready to encounter the forecasted hurricane. For example, in the BRUNSWICK® advertisement, a female spokesperson asks, “Hurricane supplies? The season is upon us and if your family doesn’t usually stack up for hurricanes, it’s time to start a new tradition. Here’s a guide from BRUNSWICK® to help you get started on stacking your hurricane kit” (see Figure 6). As Jamaica is one country that encounters hurricanes (U.S. Embassy in Jamaica, 2018), a handful of processed foods and stackable products were likely to include such information content in their ads. Another common information cue used related to convenience. For example, the Best Dressed Chicken proudly presented their convenient re-sealable bag and individually frozen mixed parts of chicken in their ad (“Dinner just got easier!”). See Figure 7.

BRUNSWICK advertisement

The Best Dressed Chicken advertisement
A tally of how much information was conveyed by each food or beverage advertisement was created (see Table 8). Of the newspaper ads, 13.6% (n = 60) did not include any explicit information about food products, but just focused on a simple product image or brand logo/name. In our study, there were 1.25 information content cues featured in Jamaican food newspaper advertisements on average (SD = 0.85), ranging from 0 to 5. Previously, in the United States, newspaper ads (3.13 cues on average) tended to contain far more information than television ads (0.69–1.70 cues) and magazine ads (1.18–2.14 cues; Abernethy, 1992). However, the current study revealed that Jamaican newspaper advertisements conveyed about 3 times fewer cues than newspapers advertisements in the United States 30 years ago. Perhaps the aim of newspaper advertising is transforming to be a brand reminder or alert rather than providing a lot of information to readers. Along with the globalization phenomenon, image-based information may appear more frequently in the future as advertising strategy.
Number of Information Cues Depicted in Jamaican Newspaper Food Advertisements
Discussion
Newspaper advertising can help reach audiences with national and local brands (e.g., King et al., 1997). This is the first known study to highlight the prevalence of global and local brands in newspapers and also the first known study of newspaper advertising in Jamaica. It is noteworthy that 38% of the brands featured in advertising in daily Jamaican newspapers were from outside of the country or Caribbean region, mostly U.S. brands with a global footprint (e.g., KFC, Burger King). This observation for a local medium (newspaper) fits within the broader mass media environment in Jamaica, which presents a mix of local and global content, with the majority of television content reflecting U.S. programming and advertising (MRSL, 2014). The “geo-linguistic similarities” between Jamaica and the United States and the economic disparity between nations allow the importation of media programs from the United States into Jamaica via its “free to view” local television stations (e.g., TVJ, Gordon, 2008).
The present study analyzing newspapers shows that local advertising is dominant; however, more than one in three advertisements come from outside Jamaica’s borders. Some global brands localized their approach with appropriate celebrities from and for the culture (e.g., KFC – Chris Martin) and targeting cultural practices for adolescents (e.g., KFC-national exams, GSAT [GSAT was ended soon after data were gathered and replaced by a different national exam McLean, 2017]). This strategy is more indicative of a glocalization approach, where global brands tailor their product and marketing communications to suit local audiences (e.g., Robertson, 2012). Several local/national brands also highlighted their local roots with country of origin cues (Jamaican flag, “made in Jamaica,” patois dialect) and with advertising copy that highlighted local concerns (e.g., hurricanes). This finding is aligned with a Nielsen Global Homecare Survey (2016) that reported that the majority of global respondents prefer local brands and taste for fresh foods, packaged foods, snacks, and beverages. In addition to other countries such as Japan and South Korea (e.g., Nielsen Global Homecare Survey, 2016), national pride is an important factor that determines local product purchases for Jamaicans. National pride is increasingly prominent strategy in Jamaica as is evident by the latest promotional campaign of Pepsi promoting self-empowerment of Jamaicans, known to be a core Jamaican value (Ferguson et al., 2016) by branding their ads with “Jama-I-CAN” (Loop Jamaica, 2019). As such, the use of Black endorsers, availability information, and cultural events (e.g., congratulating GSAT students) in newspaper ads of global fast-food franchises such as KFC are probably effective strategies.
However, more than 70% of the global brands displayed the same visuals that one could observe in the United States. For instance, the majority of KFC advertisements entailed the images of fried chicken combo, including French Fries and cola. This global franchise already holds a dominant position in Jamaica and is perceived to contribute to Jamaican economic growth (Jamaica Observer, 2019). The company creates employment opportunities and supports local farmers by using local produces for the restaurants. For Jamaicans, some global brands (such as KFC) are part of their daily lives.
As expected, local brands were more likely to use localization or mixed (glocal) strategy to promote their food brands. With various local cues (e.g., Black endorsers, Patois dialect, and restaurant availability, local brands, and hurricane weather conditions), local brands were likely to approach their Jamaican target audience more intimately.
This study also provides implications with respect to newspaper advertising research. Rather than building brands, newspapers historically have been known for providing information (Pasadeos et al., 1987). We revealed that the contemporary newspaper ads in a smaller market provided few information cues (i.e., an average of one information cue per ad). As might be expected from food or beverage advertising, the most frequently used information cue was taste (n = 142, 32.3%), followed by quality (n = 61, 13.9%) and price (n = 57, 13.0%). Nutrition was mentioned in almost 10% of the advertisements. This is important to note because audience members may be looking for health information about products. However, several newspaper advertisements contained only a simple product image and brand name such as outdoor advertisements that work as a brand reminder.
This study of food and beverage newspaper advertising also contributes to understanding of health in Jamaica. Research in the United States with print (and newspapers) advertising has focused on the medium’s ability to address health issues (e.g., tobacco cessation; Willis et al., 2014). Similar to research conducted with television commercials across the world (e.g., Cairns et al., 2013), this study showed that the majority of food and beverages that are advertised in Jamaican newspapers are for less healthy foods (e.g., fast-food restaurants, processed snacks), although the research also highlighted the promise of newspaper advertising for foods high in protein (“Best Dressed Chicken”) and for fruits (e.g., bananas from Jamaica Producers Group) and dairy (e.g., Island Dairy Milk). The prominence of less healthy foods in newspaper advertising is consistent with research pointing to the changing diet for Jamaicans and locals in other developing countries (e.g., Popkin et al., 2012), particularly increases in fast-food consumption among remotely acculturating adolescents assuming a part-American identity (e.g., Ferguson & Bornstein, 2015). It was also interesting to note that although there were very few soda brand advertisements, the inclusion of soda was frequently shown in fast-food advertising. Thus, exposure to high-sugar beverages despite little brand advertising was an unexpected finding.
On the whole, it appears that there is prevalent and repeated exposure to less healthy food and beverage advertising in Jamaican newspapers similar to in the United States and elsewhere. Moreover, the majority of these unhealthy food ads in Jamaican newspapers were for global brands originating in the United States (KFC, Burger King, Pepsi, etc.). These findings are important for understanding the health and well-being of Jamaican people in the context of modern globalization. Research has shown that exposure to food advertising can lead to more food consumption (e.g., Boyland et al., 2016). This link may be even more true for newspapers, which have been perceived as a particularly good medium for conveying sales information (King et al., 1997) and for generating sales, especially in moving audience members toward purchases (Reid & King, 2003).
Limitations, Implications, and Future Research
This study was limited in the sample of advertisements. Although we captured and analyzed newspaper 400+ food and beverage advertisements, they were from two time periods in 2016. The results may not be representative of advertising throughout the year. Or, we may see differences in advertising execution, informational cues, or the amount of food brands appeared in newspaper advertisements in previous years and today. Future scholars may compare how global and local food brands strategically and systematically evolve in Jamaican newspaper advertising or in other low-middle income countries. Also, given the prevalence of mobile phones and growing access to smart phones and social media in the country, an investigation into how food brands are now using social media may be relevant, especially for the Jamaican adolescents. Also, despite the presence of these newspaper advertisements, the method used here cannot assess audience perceptions or gauge media effects. Future study in Jamaica may seek out audience input.
Our findings are useful in better understanding the phenomenon of remote acculturation in Jamaica. Not only were global advertising strategies predominant overall, with most global brands originating in the United States, but it was more often the strategy of choice even when advertising local brands. These poignant results demonstrate how newspaper advertising, as part of the larger media landscape of Jamaica, act as a vehicle for global and U.S. culture, tastes, and goods to travel into Jamaica. The broad array of global newspaper advertising strategies provides remote cultural exposure to preferences, tastes, values, attitudes, and lifestyles from the United States and elsewhere, setting the stage for remote acculturation to occur. A circular process is likely whereby some youth and adults exposed to this global advertising overtime become Jahmericans who identify strongly with the U.S. culture and lifestyle. These Jahmericans are then more attracted to U.S.-produced media on a daily basis, including U.S. cable TV, and their greater exposure to a broader array of U.S. food advertising likely shifts their actual eating choices in the direction of the advertised unhealthy food options (Ferguson et al., 2018). In other words, newspaper food advertising may be contributing to the remote acculturation of some youth and parents in Jamaica as much as more U.S. media consumption is resulting from remote acculturation. Our findings also show how features of a remote culture can become embedded in another society—global, including U.S.-derived, advertising strategies were commonly used to advertise local products in Jamaica. Even the way that advertising is done is a cultural product which can shift based on remote acculturation.
Conclusion
This descriptive study was the first known study of advertising in Jamaica. Our findings hold significance for understanding the types and extent of global content and brand exposure in understudied markets. Our research also demonstrates the value of this medium in some markets for global brands.
Supplemental Material
Supplemental_Appendix – Supplemental material for Local and Standardized Strategies: A Content Analysis of Newspaper Food and Beverage Advertising in Jamaica
Supplemental material, Supplemental_Appendix for Local and Standardized Strategies: A Content Analysis of Newspaper Food and Beverage Advertising in Jamaica by Regina Jihea Ahn, Michelle R. Nelson and Gail M. Ferguson in Newspaper Research Journal
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
Data collection and manuscript preparation was funded by the Christopher Family Foundation Food and Family Program at the Family Resilience Center, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where co-author Gail M. Ferguson was formerly a faculty member. The authors gratefully acknowledge two undergraduate coders, Ysatris Nunez and Julian Davis, for assistance with collecting newspaper data.
Supplemental material
Supplemental material for this article is available online.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
