[Food advertising: advice or merely stimulation of consumption?]

Current advertising messages for food products deserve special attention, since they indicate that the media has played a central role in shaping new eating habits. The food industry, seeking to serve a new customer segment (increasingly preoccupied with health and physical well-being), and with a specific interest in this promising market, has intensified its marketing strategies for stimulating consumption of diet and light food products. This study analyzed 20 food advertisements published from June to October 2006 in Brazilian magazines and newspapers with nationwide circulation. The following elements were analyzed in the advertisements: the advertiser; the audience; the language; and the message. It was seen that the advertising message mainly targeted women, proposing guilt-free consumption, promising a combination of esthetics and health. In order to enhance their product, several advertisements omitted relevant nutritional information while others promoted hazardous combinations with pharmaceutical products, and still others induced the target public to replace regular meals with their product. The results signal the need to broaden the discussion on the strategies for food advertising, as the citizen's right to information and health cannot be subjugated to market values.