Authenticity in America: Class Distinctions in Potato Chip Advertising

gastronomica: the journal of food and culture, vol.11, no.4, pp.46–54, issn 1529-3262. © 2011 by joshua freedman and dan jurafsky. tool for this analysis. We propose to study differences in the representation of socioeconomic status in contemporary America by studying the words and metaphors employed in one genre of food writing: food advertising. Our goal is to examine advertising texts directed at different classes to see how the words express representations of class identity. We also explore the closely linked concept of authenticity—the idea that some aspects of culture, lifestyle, class identity, or language are in some way more authentic than others. Comparing targeted language requires a food that is consumed by all social classes, yet comes wrapped in textual description. We chose the great American snack food: potato chips. Consumers across wide socioeconomic lines eat these snacks, which are available in many different brands at a wide range of prices. Furthermore, the advertising language on the packaging offers a number of linguistic indicators presumably designed to appeal to differing consumers. Our goal, then, is to explore whether advertising on chips targeted toward consumers of high socioeconomic status uses different language than that on chips designed to appeal to lower status consumers. We hope to better understand how advertisers distinguish the concepts of food for the upper class and the working class or lower-middle class in America. How are different social identities expressed in modern America with respect to food culture? What in particular is the role of working-class or lower-middle-class identity? Of course, by investigating advertising language our study is perforce indirect: it can only tell us about social class through the language that advertisers use to appeal to them. Nonetheless, analyzing advertising language, like analyzing the language of politicians, gives us a window into how a particular speaker models class differences, which is an important component of how class is treated in public discourse. Authenticity in America Class Distinctions in Potato Chip Advertising investigations | joshua freedman and dan jurafsky