<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/05/news-outlets-producing-covert-marketing-for-mcdonalds-kfc-and-dominos-study-finds>
"Fast food chains are successfully influencing news outlets to produce “covert
marketing” for their brands, a new study has found.
The study, led by the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, analysed
all press releases from McDonald’s, KFC and Domino’s Pizza in Australia between
July 2021 and June 2022.
The findings, published on Wednesday in the
Australian and New Zealand Journal
of Public Health, showed the press releases translated into overwhelmingly
positive coverage of the brands.
Of 86 articles across 31 Australian news outlets that the researchers
identified were generated because of the fast food brands’ press releases, they
found 80 slanted favourably to the brands.
Mail Online produced the most articles of any news outlet with 20 items,
followed by
news.com.au (16), the
Courier Mail (8), the
Daily Telegraph
(6) and the
Australian (4).
Almost half (45%) of the articles profiled a new, unhealthy food product; more
than a fifth (21%) promoted a brand’s corporate social responsibility
credentials; while sponsored brand events, recruitment drives and new
merchandise were the other main subjects identified by researchers."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
