WASHINGTON, March 2, 2015 – Bolthouse Farms is challenging America to shift the balance of “food porn” and help create a healthier Internet.
Food porn, which the firm describes as images of delicious-looking food often posted by cell-phone users, right now is dominated by pictures of scrumptious looking but unhealthy cakes, pies and sundaes. On average, Bolthouse Foods says, more than 1.7 million food hashtags are posted each day, but only 37 percent feature fruits and veggies.
But Bolthouse Farms, a division of Campbell Soup, wants to change all that. So, starting today, and for the next week, the company is urging Americans to take over the Internet and post images that celebrate fruits and vegetables. The goal: to set a record of 1 million healthy posts per day.
“Food porn posts are among the most popular in social media because people love to share photos of food that reflects their lifestyle,” said Suzanne Ginestro, chief marketing officer at Bolthouse Farms. “We believe by sharing more images of fruits and veggies online, we can inspire better food choices offline.”
The company asks you to use #urwhatupost as well as specific fruit and veggie hashtags like #carrot, #veggies, #berries. For a full list of hashtags and to learn more about Bolthouse Farms challenge, visit www.urwhatupost.com.
Last week, Bolthouse, which makes a line of healthy juice drinks, joined a group of celebrities and athletes to announce a new FNV (fruits n’ veggies) initiative at the Partnership for a Healthier America’s Building a Healthier Future Summit in Washington. A year ago, the company launched the Food Porn Index to track food posts on Twitter and Instagram to measure the health of the Internet and learn about social media users’ lifestyles and eating habits.
The data showed a significant imbalance between what Bolthouse describes as healthy and unhealthy posts with a daily average of more than 1 million unhealthy hashtags compared to 600,000 healthy hashtags. The most popular unhealthy hashtags are #pie and #icecream, which spiked in the summer and holiday months, while the most frequently posted healthy hashtags are #berry and #potato. Data also showed people want to start the week off right with Mondays tracking the highest frequency of healthy posts while unhealthy posts spike on Saturday.
Bolthouse Farms notes that social media is changing the way America eats. According to a Harris Interactive survey, more than half of Americans who use social media agree that seeing photos of fruits and vegetables motivates them to eat healthier.
But critics argue that social media is also adding to the U.S. dietary confusion by pointing out that some foods are “good” versus “bad," even though most nutrition experts recommend that a wide variety of foods can and should be eaten in moderation.
The recently released #8220;Dietary Guidelines” report suggests that red meat, dairy products, whole grains, nuts and other foods can all be part of a healthy diet.
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