It’s been a good year for food porn.
Kraft Heinz’s Super Bowl slot depicted a man addicted to watching frozen food heat up, while in the UK, Marks & Spencer brought back its “This is Not Just” food campaign that did much to bring the phrase into common use when it first appeared in the mid-2000s.
Unlike first time around, these TV campaigns are reacting to a trend most are tapping into at home, on social media. It’s now almost impossible to browse online without bumping into oozing yolks, giant milkshakes, or slow-mo shots of gooey cheese.
At the time of writing, the hashtag #foodporn was displaying over 211 million posts on Instagram; more than three times the number for #healthyfood, and more than #dinner and #lunch combined.
Images of food are common currency online, and alluring photography has become a go-to marketing strategy for retailers, CPG brands, restaurants, and any business with some connection to food.
But with the benefit of our research, we can show that in order to generate business and establish long-standing relationships with consumers, marketers have to think beyond the ooze.
