Fast food, Black Friday and social media in Brazil: perspectives in Public Health

Abstract

Introduction: Fast-food chains promote unhealthy foods on social media and in advertising campaigns in occasions such as Black Friday (BF). Although these strategies are reported in communication and marketing publications, they are little explored in public health. Nevertheless, evidence shows the negative impact of food marketing on the health and nutrition of individuals as it encourages the consumption of food that is not aligned with local culture, commensality, and sustainability. Objective: To describe promotional deals by Burger King, a prominent company in the fast-food sector in Brazil during BF in 2019 and to evaluate the interactions with these promotional deals on Facebook. Methods: The promotional deals were retrieved from the company’s website, and the price of the products and discount percentage during and outside BF were collected. We evaluated the association of the number of interactions on the Facebook posts with the price and discount percentage during BF. Results: Five promotional deals were identified during BF, mostly of sandwiches; 50% was the minimum discount announced in the BF ads, while 25% was the minimum discount announced outside the campaign. On Facebook, 13 posts presented the promotional deals, totaling 283,432 likes, 226,874 comments, and 40,157 shares. These interactions were greater the lower the price and the higher the discount percentage. Conclusion: BF was used by a fast-food chain to promote unhealthy foods at low prices, resulting in a great engagement on Facebook. This practice can lead to negative public health consequences.

Keywords

• fast food. marketing. comércio. internet.