An estimation of advertising impact for food and drink choice among the population of 18-65 years age group

Researches discussing the efficiency of various promotional measures and their influence has been carried out in Lithuania and in the entire world, however, the influence of food and beverage advertisements are not included in the research. The goal of the analysis is to assess the influence of advertising on people’s choice of food and beverages. The tasks of the analysis: 1.To determine the influence of advertising on the choice of food products; 2. To determine the influence of advertising on the choice of food beverages; 3. Determine what means of advertising has the most impact on the choice; 4. Set the criteria for the choice of food products. Methodology. The analysis was carried out from December, 2015 until April, 2017. The data were collected through a survey of anonymous questionnaire on website apklausa.lt, as well as the link to the questionnaire was shared on social network “Facebook” in groups. All questionnaires, i.e. 724 (100%) were filled out and returned and all the data were used in the analysis. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: the first part was intended to assess the students’ characteristic and the second one was intended to assess the influence of advertising and the choice of food. The statistical analysis of the data was performed using programme WinPepi 11.65 and statistical package IBM SPSS Statistics 21. The difference between the data was statistically significant when p < 0,05. Results and conclusions. Both men and women are not affected by the advertisements for their choice of food products. People living in a rural areas more often buy goods of the advertisements that they saw on the shopping site. Town residents and women prefer the goods regarding their price. City residents and holders of higher and vocational education ignore the advertisements while choosing their items. People with higher education go the stores with a list and buy only what is needed, ignoring the advertisements. According to the respondents, there are mainly advertisements of unhealthy food and beverages. The advertisements do not affect the choice of mineral water for people with vocational education. Soft drink advertisements do not affect the choice for women, as well as those with higher education and city residents. Energy drinks and tonics advertisements do not affect women and those with higher education. The greatest influence on the choice of food products are made by other people's recommendations. Food products according to the recommendations of other people are chosen by women, people having vocational education and those living in rural areas. Food tasting does not affect the choice for people without secondary education and residents of towns. Drinks tasting do not affect the choice for women, as well as those with incomplete secondary education and people living in towns. The respondents usually choose food products regarding their taste features. Keywords: population, nutrition, advertising, influence, choic