What Foods are Hypermarkets Promoting? A Content Analysis of Hypermarket Flyers in Malaysia.

Hypermarkets use marketing strategies that influence food choices and consumer buying behavior. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of promotions for ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ foods (on the front page vs the entire flyers) in hypermarket flyers in Malaysia and compare the healthiness of food products advertised during festive and non-festive seasons. The top three hypermarket chains (by market share) operating in Malaysia were selected and online flyers were collected for 16 weeks from January to August 2020 (n=23 flyers with 3559 food products). Food products were categorized into four categories: ‘core’ (healthy), ‘discretionary’ (unhealthy), ‘alcohol’, and ‘other’, and 24 sub-categories, based on the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGTHE). The Chi-square for Goodness of Fit test was used to determine the relationship between the number of promotions for all 4 categories and between food products advertised during festive and non-festive seasons. The result showed that promotion of the 4 food categories was only significant in the entire flyers (χ2=17.762, p<0.001), with ‘discretionary’ (48.7%) being the highest food advertised. Food and drinks that were promoted more during the festive compared to the non-festive season in the entire flyers were ‘discretionary’ food (49.3% vs 47.8%, χ2=40.852, p<0.001) and alcohol (6.7% vs 3.9%, χ2=28.846, p<0.001). The study highlights the dominance of unhealthy food products in hypermarket flyers in Malaysia. As part of efforts to address unhealthy diets and obesity prevalence in Malaysia, an increased focus on addressing the marketing of unhealthy foods in food retail settings is warranted.