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08.05.2004

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Read more about consumer eating habits in The Hartman Group's Obesity in America: Understanding Weight Management from a Consumer's Perspective.

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HARTBEAT

June 17, 2004 "Addressing the Problem of Obesity" - by Harvey Hartman

April 07, 2003 "The 5 Faces of Obesity" - by The Hartman Group

Feb 11, 2003 "Don't Tell Me I'm Obese, I'm Just Big-Boned" - by The Hartman Group

Snacking Our Way Through The Day food Culture In America

Snacking is Now an Individual Right, Not a Socially Regulated "Treat"

Moms used to sing folksy jingles about what happens to little boys who "stick their hands in the cookie jar" to communicate, in part, that "snacking" is not meant to occur at will. Snacking was once a "treat" to be enjoyed with others, not a habit to emerge whenever and wherever. The latter was once viewed as the sign of the undisciplined child (...and adult).

Today, snacking pretty much does happen at will, among both children and adults. It is far less tied to social control mechanisms, which used to limit the disbursal of "snacks" and the occasions in which they appeared. Part of this has to do with a more positive view of in-between meal eating, an adaptation to lifestyles in which daily meal-crafting is often impractical. The food industry itself rushed to meet this emerging cultural need and has supported the virtual ubiquity of snackable foods in modern America. Snacking has now become an activity in which compulsive (i.e., socially unregulated) eating is commonplace.

In fact, intervening in individuals' snack habits has become a truly dicy affair. In essence, snacking has evolved into one of the ultimate expressions of individual taste and preference in American life. Ask anyone on the street: "What are your favorite snacks?" and a list quickly forms. People guard their snacks and protect them with an emotional attachment that borders on the parental: "Don't you dare touch my Pringles, man!" All this further signals how disconnected the "snack" has become from traditional cultural notions of shared food intake (see Hartbeat on Commensality).

Contemporary Snack Occasions

Because snacking is so individually driven, the list of snack occasions has grown considerably. Here's what our consumer research has revealed to us on the key contemporary occasions for snacking (note that some are simply mood driven)

After Work and Pre-dinner: The most consistent time for snacking behavior occurs in the period shortly after arriving home from work and continues on until dinner time.
Snack Instead of Lunch: For many, lunch is now used as an ad hoc symbolic stage, of sorts, to "perform" an overture to a healthier lifestyle that almost always will be contradicted later...often just a little bit later that very day. "Snacking" on small-portioned foods and beverages also is more practical due to social constraints that make hot, mid-day meals at home impossible and that threaten to imprison consumers in mid-day consumption of tiresome microwave meals or over-sized restaurant portions.
Snacking While Cooking: We identified a marked consumer tendency to snack while in the midst of meal preparation and cooking activities. It anticipates the coming "meal" but never replaces it.
After Dinner and Before Bed: At this time of the day snacking consists of grazing, as consumers wander in and out of the kitchen, looking primarily for "sweets" in the late evening.
Snacking While Watching Television: Predictably, we noted a strong propensity to snack while watching TV as well as an equally strong tendency to snack to excess, a finding many attribute to the distracting properties of the television experience.
Snacking to Feel Good, to Reward Achievement, to Mark Time
Snacking to Temporarily Overcome Otherwise Weak Social Bonds: Whether at the office or among friends with diverse interests/values, food has increasingly become the glue that can temporarily bind together those who might otherwise differ on fundamental social, religious and cultural values. America's increasing foodie orientation is one domain of consumption that helps us fill in the cracks of our increasing cultural fragmentation as Americans.

Defining the "Snack" for Today's Marketeers

Virtually any Food or Beverage Product Can Become a Snack. The word "snack" used to refer to food, something you chew. Today, almost anything can be a snack...even a drink. The word "snack" has been broadened to include much more than the traditional "sweets" or "salty" crackers. Now, even a slice of pizza or a smoothie in between meals might be described as a "snack." While a "meal" still requires "chewing," a "snack" no longer does.
Snacking is Not About Types of Food, but How that Food is Consumed. Snacking instead of eating a "meal," for example, is, aside from being quicker, a way for consumers to feel like they're eating less, controlling portions, cutting caloric intake, etc. The implication here being that marketers may find their view of their food or beverage product is much narrower than that of its consumers. The very same food product may function as an in-between-meal "snack" one day, as a lunch replacement the next and as a TV munchie the following day. It may be a meal component one day, (fruit juice with lunch) and eaten as a "snack" all by itself the next. Although, occasionally, one individual may decide that your product fits a specific occasion and consume it only then, what about the thousands of others? A sky high, aggregate view of food and beverage products would make it apparent how easily the same product moves in and out of snack occasions and in and out of the fluid "snack" category altogether.

What does this mean for food manufacturers and marketers? It means that you need to be imaginative and flexible in marketing food and beverage products. The fact that your product may be a meal component one day and a snack the next is not harmful confusion, but rather a beneficial ambiguity. It expands the social life of your product and brand, expanding the usefulness of it in your consumers' everyday lives.

The Upshot

When using the rubric of "snack" in messaging or advertising, play upon its ambiguity in everyday life to better connect with consumers.
Emphasize the multi-functionality of your food or drink in and beyond the snack occasions listed above. Tell stories about your product's journey in and out of these occasions (e.g., "A Week in the Life of a Luna Bar," etc.)
Acknowledge the fact that some "snacking" is compulsive and play this up in reference to products that are naturally low in calories, fat, etc. Instead of preaching "diet and exercise," make your products appear relatively harmless when they get over-consumed.
Above all, remember: snack food today is so much more than it seems...

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