Consumer Perceptions of Functional Foods

“People are saying, ‘I want my food to be food. I want my medicine to be medicine. I don’t want my food to be medicine.’” —Harvey Hartman, The New York Times, August 2007

Functional food is a very temperamental food and beverage category. Consumers, in growing numbers, continue to pursue lifestyles centered on health and wellness; and food and beverage manufacturers continue to churn out new (and sometimes bizarre) functional food and beverage products. Some foods boasting health claims are widely accepted by consumers, while others are short lived and seem to be of little interest.

Even though functional foods have been around for quite some time, longevity does not guarantee success. In the case of functional foods, success is exceptional, as most attempts at functional foods have been disappointing, if not utter failures, for the companies marketing them. There are several reasons for this that could be lumped together and labeled “misapprehension of the functional consumer.”

Consumers and industry experts are often at odds over what constitutes “real” food. While food is the main character in consumers’ quest to lead healthier lives, the term “functional food” is not one consumers understand or use.

In an online poll of 683 consumers in 2007, the Hartman Group explored various types of food and beverage products consumers associate with having a health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond the basic function of providing daily nutrition, or if they consumed these products just for the sheer enjoyment of it. As Figure 1 depicts, consumers choose fresh “real foods” over fortified or enhanced food and beverage products. The health promotion and disease prevention benefits of fresh foods trump the health claims of fortified/enhanced foods and beverages.

Another reason why functional foods often miss the mark with consumers is that conceptualizing functional foods as “magic bullets,” with a corresponding consumer looking to fix specific health issues, is a mistake. Unfortunately, nothing has emerged to fill the vacuum left by the departure of that conceptualization. Some have suggested marketing functional foods more toward consumers pursuing general wellness, rather than targeting specific health problems, is the way to go. This makes sense, as the trend toward wellness is well established and continues to grow. The trick, then, is to understand the wellness consumer, and what kinds of functional products would resonate with them.

The average American consumer is not on the same functional food wavelength as the industry that coined the term. In fact, despite the many functional products that continue to pour into the marketplace—some finding greater success than others—most consumers have a quite literal understanding of the term “functional food”: foods that have a function.

The Function of Food

While consumers are interested in the health benefits of their food, rarely does this interest translate into the understanding and acceptance of “functional foods” created in factories or laboratories. Consumers are likely to view foods as functional because of ingredients with naturally occurring health benefits. Thus, products like olive oil are viewed as a source of “good fats,” or oatmeal “helps with cholesterol,” while most products marketed as cleverly contrived innovations with long ingredient lists are viewed with confusion and skepticism.

In addition to a strong desire for naturally occurring health benefits in their food, when faced with a product boasting specific health benefits consumers make their best quick guess at how this functional food “came to be.” For example, consumers examining a pink translucent soft drink enhanced with calcium become confused because they can’t logically connect the product with its functional ingredient.

If the ingredients make sense to consumers, the product is more readily accepted than one that raises questions or suggests a product is a chemical, pharmaceutical or enhanced in an unnatural way. In order to succeed in today’s consumer driven marketplace, new functional foods and beverages should be based on culture and not the test laboratory.

As an industry-created term, the phrase “functional foods” is foreign to consumers throughout the world of health and wellness. Despite their unfamiliarity with the term, consumers do have ideas about what their food should be, as well as the functionality of food.

Functional Foods that Work

From the consumer perspective, functional foods can be divided into two primary categories: functional foods that are natural vs. those that are created (Figure 2). The foods consumers think of as natural or inherently functional are those that at an ingredient level have naturally occurring health benefits.

This perspective of natural food as inherently functional is the foundation to understanding why individuals may reject some packaged foods that claim functional benefits—foods that are more like a product of science or medicine rather than real food.

Ultimately, individuals want to connect their food with the nutrients added and the health benefits claimed. To make this link, consumers often construct ingredient narratives or simple stories about a product’s characteristics to determine how it derives its functionality. Ingredient narratives are informed by the consumers’ knowledge about the products and the ingredients. Their intuitive sense of the product based on cues like packaging and its ingredient profile, as well as their personal experience or history with a particular product.

Although individuals may consider some functional foods as existing on opposite ends of the spectrum—foods that are real and natural vs. foods that are created and strange—there is a great opportunity for food manufacturers to create offerings that mediate between these two folds.

The key take away for functional foods manufacturers is that some consumers are quite receptive to food products with have added vitamins and nutrients, but the product and the addition must make sense. Packaged foods that will be most successful are those that intersect with consumers notions of innately natural functional food, as well as provide the benefit of added nutrition.

Laurie Demeritt is president and COO of The Hartman Group, a leading consulting and consumer insights firm. The Hartman Group specializes in the analysis and interpretation of consumer lifestyles and how these lifestyles affect the purchase and use of health and wellness products and services. Contact Demeritt at [email protected].