Characteristics of teenage food advertisements in Finland

The aim of this study was to investigate which foods were directly advertised to Finnish teenagers and to analyse the information given about the ingredients, the role of health and pleasure and the activities and milieus in the advertisements. In order to shed light on the socio-cultural context, two successful advertisements; one for Coca-Cola and one for milk, were described in detail. Eighty-nine food advertisements published in Finnish youth magazines, and 116 television-spots shown in 1983 were subjected to content analysis. Typical food advertisements aimed at teenagers were for soft drinks, chocolates, can-dies, and milk. These contained little information on ingredients and this was often misleading. Health claims were rare, whereas good flavour was emphasized. In the advertisements young people exercised, danced or drove motor vehicles distant from their everyday living environment. They enjoyed the refreshing power of nature, did not go to school or eat ordinary meals, but took soft drinks and chocolates for strength and energy. The advertisements emphasized the pleasures of eating and skillfully associated the foods with teenage life-style. Due to the absence of an urban tradition the ‘American dream’ presented in movies, popular music, and advertising is accepted in Finland. In a successful milk advertisement the combination of Finnish agricultural milieu with American music created a positive response among teenagers.     

International trade and economic convergence: the credit channel

In this paper, we examine a particular mechanism by which internationaltrade accelerates economic convergence. We develop a model ofgrowth under credit constraints in which international tradeexpands access to credit. We show in numerical simulations thatreasonable values for openness generate convergence rates thatmatch well the empirical estimates. We econometrically investigatea key prediction of the model - that more open economies exhibitgreater debt to output ratios - and find substantial supportin the data for this claim. This remains true even when we controlfor a host of additional factors and conduct robustness checks.     

Consumer opinions and practices related to food additives in the purchase situation

The aim of this study was to describe consumer opinions and behaviour in the purchase situation. Sixty female customers, who had bought one of the food items chosen as focus foods (milk snacks, bread, beverages, condiments) of the study, were interviewed in six supermarkets in the metropolitan area of Helsinki. The subjects most often quoted good taste and familiarity as grounds for the selection of focus foods, but not the additive content. The majority of subjects considered Finnish foods to be mainly good and safe although 17 expressed some concern about food additives. The general concern of the subjects about additives did not conform with their actual buying behaviour.