Table 1 FoodMATS Operational Definitions of 4Ps Marketing Mix
Product | • Food or beverages available for purchase in concessions or vending machines or the food or beverage product, brand, or retailer marketed in the recreation facility (whether or not it was available within the recreation facility). • Classified as “Most Healthy”, “Less Healthy”, or “Least Healthy” foods or beverages (Table 2). |
Price | • Monetary cost of food and beverages available in vending machines and concessions located within the recreation facility. • The FoodMATS includes 11 pricing indicators: four were related to overeating or rewards for repeat visits; seven compared prices of healthy and unhealthy food and beverage options. • Pricing indicators were classified as “Least Healthy” if pricing encouraged overeating, repeat visits, or unhealthy options (e.g. sugar sweetened drinks) were cheaper than healthy options (e.g. water). |
Place | • Physical location of where food and beverages are placed or marketed. • The FoodMATS includes 26 locations (e.g. windows, scoreboards, checkouts) where food marketing may be found in the recreation facility. • All locations were grouped into three facility areas: food (concession), sports, and other (entrance, hallways, outside). |
Promotion | • Advertising, messaging, or communication to persuade recreation facility users to purchase, use, or consume any food or beverage or to increase brand awareness. • Used by raters to identifying the presence and count of food marketing occasions. |