Please join us in welcoming our first guest in the 2021-22 Annual Speaker Series--Emily Truman from the University of Calgary, who will present her work entitled:
"While supplies last: Exploring the material culture of limited edition packaged foods"
Limited Edition packaged food products, like Pumpkin Spice Oreos, Jalapeño M&Ms and Maple Bacon Pop Tarts, have become commonplace in grocery and convenience stores, and on social media (marketed via Instagram and Snapchat). These speciality food products, characterized by unique packaging and novel flavours, employ the strategy of limited availability once reserved for luxury goods and high-end brands. While scarcity functions as an effective marketing gimmick to increase sales, attract new customers, and test market new flavours, these products also reflect and propagate food trends that represent mainstream cultural tastes. In this talk, Emily Truman explores the unique material characteristics of limited edition packaged food products, providing examples of how their socio-cultural functions are communicated. Considering both their production and consumption contexts contributes to an improved understanding of the roles of snack foods in the modern food landscape.
Biography
Dr. Emily Truman is a postdoctoral fellow in Critical Communication, Food & Health in the Department of Communication, Media and Film at the University of Calgary. Her program of research examines the theorization and implementation of food literacy, and the visual cultures of food, nutrition and health, with a particular interest in cultural icons and symbols. Her work has appeared in Appetite, British Food Journal, and the Canadian Journal of Communication.
Please note that this event will be held online--please register using this EventBrite link to receive the event Zoom link