The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to analyse comparatively Spanish and Portuguese food advertising with health claims, from a rhetorical, semiotic and attitudinal point of view, after the promulgation of the European Union regulations on food advertising which entered into force in 2007. This is about studying the characteristics of the Spanish and Portuguese food advertisements, which claim that are healthy under the new regulations, and to analyse the social perception of consumers. The messages that promote food products with pretended health purposes have become one of the advertising genres most influential of the current health and beauty cult society, from the economic, social and ideological point of view. Health has become a very effective and persuasive claim for selling all type of products, especially food, for this the special scientific and academic interest of a study that will deal comprehensively, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary with this food advertising.

From the second half of the 20th century in Western societies the living standars and a greater concern for health and body have increased. In this context, dietary habits play an important role in the search for physical and mental wellbeing. This social concern is exploited by the food industry for bringing on the market a range of products that meet the interests and tastes of the consumers. The promotion of these new food products (such as functional food) is accompanied by advertising based on health arguments, the so-called “health claims”, that are messages that promote health benefits or indicate the nutritional qualities of food. The social and economic importance of these messages with health claims is such that in the European Union there are regulations for the advertising of these foodstuffs, the Regulation 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 20 December 2006 relative to the nutritional and health claims of food.    
 

Díaz Rojo, José Antonio; Medeiros, Carla

CSIC - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia