Study looks at Pacific culture and soft drink consumption

Tue Jan 03 2017 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Study looks at Pacific culture and soft drink consumption

03 January 2017

Paul Nai probably won’t be drinking soft drinks this summer, but he will be studying them.

The 23-year-old University of Auckland student from Mangere is researching the cultural factors that drive the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) in New Zealand’s Pacific Island community.

Paul, along with 21 other students from the Faculty of Business and Economics, has been selected as a Summer Scholar, awarded to high achieving students to conduct a supervised research project over the summer months.

He says he was drawn to his research topic after learning that Pacific Islanders as an ethnic group are the biggest consumers of soft drinks, or SSBs, in New Zealand.

“The Pacific community needs to realise the negative health implications of the overconsumption of SSBs, which is clearly driven by market factors such as price, availability and advertising, but there are also cultural factors that have some relevancy,” Paul, who is Tongan, says.

“I’m not setting out to blame anyone or group for the state of SSB consumption of Pacific Islanders, rather it is an opportunity to help understand their consumption behaviours.”

For example, Paul says Pacific Islanders are more likely to consume soft drink without purchasing it due to its availability in Pacific cultural practices, such as feasting on special occasions.

“Organisations seeking to improve the health of Pacific communities could use my conceptual framework to help construct their messages in a culturally relevant manner, and in a way that would resonate with Pacific communities,” he says.

Paul has already completed a dissertation as partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) Degree in Marketing which looked at the role of Pacific culture in the overconsumption of SSBs.

He will use his scholarship to author a paper based on his final year thesis. Under the supervision of Dr Bodo Lang from the Department of Marketing, they hope to submit it to a high-quality international conference, the Consumer Culture Theory Conference (CCTC) 2017.

Media contact

Danelle ClaytonCommunications, Vice-Chancellor's OfficeThe University of AucklandEmail: d.clayton@auckland.ac.nz