As a student at the University of Johannesburg, I spend most of my time on campus. The food environment is mostly filled with fast food, and sugary / caffeine drinks. When I enter the student centre (food court), I feel particularly targeted by the marketing of energy drinks, as if they are preying on my fatigue. These drinks are also more readily available than other types of drinks. I find it hard to resist! Realising how food marketing sneakily influences my choices, often leading to unhealthy food and beverages being consumed, made me interested in the Fix My Food youth campaign.
Fix My Food South Africa is a coalition of young people advocating for a fairer food system where healthy food is available, accessible, and affordable for everyone. Fix My Food South Africa is part of the wider Fix My Food global movement, which is now present in more than 10 countries. Currently, the Fix My Food South Africa movement is advocating for the implementation of draft regulation R3337, namely the “Regulations Relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs” to be signed into law. Advocacy efforts include gathering the views of young people on this proposed regulation, raising awareness on the tactics of big food companies and encouraging young people to sign an open letter, addressed to the Minister of Health. Such a law would protect consumers from exploitative advertising by big food companies and prohibit the display of misleading claims on food packages.
Before being involved with Fix My Food I was unaware of how food marketing is used to manipulate our consumption choices. Here are two approaches used by the Fix My food movement which have changed my behaviour and helped me advocate for improvements in the food environment.
Using games to challenge conceptions
Games can be used to help us re-think our beliefs about the marketing practices of big food companies. Through first hand experiences, while having fun, you can be exposed to some of the misleading tactics they use. For example, the Blood Sugar Bingo game is all about guessing how much sugar is in everyday drinks. This approach can quickly produce “penny drop moments” as we realise with shock how we are manipulated by big food companies.
Leadership and learning
Through participating in Fix My Food workshops, I have learnt more about my own decision-making and behaviours. This process has also helped me lead others to be more aware of misleading marketing practices and to guide their advocacy efforts to change the food environment.
How I have changed
Through games and workshops my awareness increased on the misleading marketing tactics being used by big food companies. More importantly, this also led me to change my own behaviour towards my food environment in the following ways:
Firstly, I am far more selective in choosing food products and spend more time studying food package labelling. Secondly, I have become a vocal advocate for improvements to be made in the food environment. I strongly support regulations that will result in a more simplified front-of-package labelling system that everyone can understand. This includes the use of simple, strong design that informs citizens irrespective of literacy levels as proposed in draft regulation R3337.
Sometimes I think to myself that perhaps our policy makers need to play more games that help us rethink how we perceive the marketing of food, and what is in our food, and attend more workshops such as the ones I attended as a Fix My Food advocate! Maybe such experiences will bring about improvements in our food environment and broader social and behaviour change.
Thulani Khumalo, 24, is a second-year Psychology and Linguistics student at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). Thulani is also a committed Fix My Food advocate. Read more about Thulani and our Youth Advocates.
