Consuming and Communicating Fruit and Vegetables A Nation-Wide Food Survey and Analysis of Blogs among Swedish Adults

Abstract: The aim of this thesis was to investigate fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption among Swedish adults and to use F&V-related perceptions for audience segmentation. Further, the aim was to identify motives and approaches of F&V bloggers, as well as to analyze F&V-related online discourses.F&V consumption and related perceptions were surveyed using a questionnaire among a random sample of Swedish adults (18-84y; final response rate 51%; n=1 304). F&V consumption was measured using a self-administered pre-coded 24-h recall and FFQ. The average consumption was close to the recommendations. Women in general and men born outside Sweden as well as the physically active respondents consumed the most F&V. The respondents were divided into two clusters based on their F&V-related perceptions. Positive cluster with more women and higher mean age consumed more F&V, whereas Indifferent cluster experienced more practical, habitual as well as external problems with F&V consumption. Cluster analysis is an example of audience segmentation for communicative purposes.A sample of 50 lay-people blogs with F&V-related content were analyzed with a qualitative content analysis. Two-dimensional categories – level of dietary influential purpose and source of experience – were used to identify blogger ideal types. Exhibitionist with a passive level of dietary influence and lived experiences was the most common type. Persuaders use lived experiences to actively influence their readers, whereas Authorities try to influence mediating others’ experiences. The Mediator is described as a neutral observer. Understanding the role of blogs in everyday communication is important for targeting health messages. A critical discourse analysis was applied to Persuader bloggers’ texts (n=12). Three F&V-related discourses were identified: normative consumption, authentic consumption and altruistic consumption. This analysis is useful for the last process of dietetic communication, namely tailoring the messages.The present four studies approach dietetic communication processes from a research perspective. However, a further step might be to apply these to a health promotion initiative starting from an identified diet-related problem (e.g. low F&V consumption) through audience segmentation (e.g. through cluster analysis) and targeting a relevant channel (e.g. through blogs) finally to tailor the message (e.g. findings from discourse analysis).