LiveLighter Blog

  • woman shopping at the supermarket

    How supermarkets are designed to make you spend more

    • Jun 21, 2023
    • by Emma Groves

    Most of us have the best intentions when food shopping - to fill our trolley with a variety of healthy, enjoyable food that our family will eat, without spending too much money. But there's a lot working against us and these goals!

  • Fried chicken wing hits the stumps

    Junk food in sport – it’s just not cricket

    • Feb 09, 2023
    • by Jawaahir Alim

    Watching cricket in Australia means being bombarded with junk food advertising. You can’t ignore KFC branding when watching the BBL, with branding on banners around the grounds, players’ uniforms, the pitch, wickets and TV graphics.

  • The research is in: ‘better-for-you’ alcohol is just marketing spin

    • Nov 17, 2021
    • by Gael Myers, Danica Keric

    When an alcohol product claims to be low in sugar or carbs, organic, natural, or that it has nothing artificial, is it actually any better for us?

  • Cutting through the sweet talk: hidden sugars and how to avoid them

    • Aug 16, 2021
    • by Stefanie Hodson

    We all know that too much sugar is bad for our health. But when food brands use marketing spin and confusing product labels to mask what’s really in the product, how do we cut through the sweet talk and see how much sugar is really hiding in the food we feed our families?

  • Sugary drinks don't belong in sport

    Olympians don't fuel their bodies with junk food, and neither should we

    • Aug 02, 2021
    • by Ainslie Sartori

    As millions of children and families around the globe tune in to see amazing feats of strength, endurance, and agility at this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, health experts have raised concerns about the huge volume of junk food and sugary drink marketing they will unwittingly be exposed to.

  • junk food in a lab

    Kitchen confidential: fast food industry tactics exposed

    • Apr 13, 2021
    • by Anne Finch

    If you’ve ever peeled open a burger to shove shreds of limp lettuce back into a puddle of semi-transparent mayonnaise and wondered… “why am I eating this again?”, we might have some answers for you.

  • skittles

    Taking a stand on junk food

    • Mar 22, 2021
    • by Gael Myers, Ainslie Sartori

    We know that families are trying to stay healthy and eat well. But the world around us doesn’t make this easy, especially when the junk food industry is allowed to market their products to kids, and build their unhealthy outlets anywhere they want.

  • Alcohol marketing tactics during COVID-19

    Sneaky alcohol marketing tactics you should be aware of

    • Jun 05, 2020
    • by Hannah Pierce

    A recent snapshot report has found that in just one hour on a Friday night, one person was targeted with alcohol ads on Facebook and Instagram every 35 seconds. Check out the six tactics the alcohol industry has been using during this public health crisis to encourage us to buy and drink more alcohol.

  • Pile of junk food

    An epidemic of junk food marketing

    • May 19, 2020
    • by Ainslie Sartori

    Junk food companies and fast food restaurants have been quick to cash in on the COVID-19 crisis and the advice to stay home by shifting their marketing focus with lightening speed. But is the heavy promotion of junk foods and drinks really the type of messaging we need during this public health crisis?

  • Drinks in a supermarket fridge

    Study reveals 2 in 3 drinks at supermarket checkouts are bad for health

    • Sep 09, 2019
    • by Gael Myers

    To investigate the extent to which sugary drinks are promoted at the supermarket checkout LiveLighter collected data from Coles and Woolworths stores in the Perth metropolitan area.