Communication on Food, Health and Nutrition. A cross-cultural analysis of the Danonino Brand and Nutri-tainment

Malene Gram (1) , Valérie-Inès de La Ville (2, 3) , André Le Roux (3) , Nathalie Boireau-Ducept (4) , Olivier Rampnoux (3)

1 Cross-Cultural Studies
2 UP - Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers
3 CEREGE [Poitiers] - Centre de recherche en gestion [EA 1722]
4 Danone Research

The aim of this article is to explore how Danone intertwines the health discourse and the entertainment aspects when promoting their products to parents and children across cultures and in communicating to its global markets. In order to examine Danone's communication strategy in the various cultural contexts, the following will be analysed: who talks about health; how healthy eating is presented; and finally how playful and entertaining aspects of health are enacted in Danone's commercials. In the analysis, focus is on Danone's ‘Danonino’ brand, how the global market is approached and how it draws on the concept of ‘nutri-tainment’ (nutrition and entertainment). The sample consists of 175 commercials from six markets (France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Poland, Denmark) aired from 2001 to 2007. The analysis involves a quantitative exploration and clustering analysis of which themes appear in which markets. This differentiates four groups of advertisements: ‘Utility’; ‘Adventure’; ‘Entertainment’; and ‘Activity’. It is complemented by a qualitative analysis of typical traits in commercials drawing on an analysis of the person or character that appears to be empowered to talk about health, how healthy eating is communicated and finally what is emphasised as being ‘healthy’ in the various national contexts.

Mots clés: marketing to children and parents; health advertising on global markets; food marketing

Domaines: Gestion et management

Malene Gram, Valérie-Inès de La Ville, André Le Roux, Nathalie Boireau-Ducept, Olivier Rampnoux. Communication on Food, Health and Nutrition. A cross-cultural analysis of the Danonino Brand and Nutri-tainment. Journal of Marketing Communications, 2010, Marketing Communications in the Food Sector, 16 (1-2), pp.87-103. ⟨10.1080/13527260903342803⟩. ⟨hal-01627913⟩