早餐是一日三餐中，大众花费最多的一餐，图片来源：Chris Ralston, Unsplash

 

The final reason why the marketing battle over breakfast is so fierce is that corporations have for decades seen it as the meal that offers the most opportunity to ring out more food spending from consumers.

 

而为何早餐相关的产业会竞争的如此激烈，这是因为多年来，许多从事相关产品经营的企业认为，早餐是大众花费最高的一餐。

 

早餐是营收最高的一餐，是多年来餐饮业不变的定理，图片来源：Emily Simenauer, Unsplash

 

Why have fast food chains focused more on advertising egg McMuffins, White Castle belgian waffles, and Taco Bell breakfast burritos? As industry members explained in a TIME article, “throughout the fast food world, lunch and dinner sales have been flat for years, while breakfast sales have climbed steadily.” You can find the same logic in cereal makers’ 1944 marketing strategy—the one that coined the phrase “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

 

既然有那么多的相关品项，为何多年来速食业主要只有在玛芬堡夹蛋、比利时松饼及墨西哥卷饼之类特定的产品做宣传呢？在时代杂志上，就曾有一位从业者就对此做了解释："在整个的速食业中，多年以来午餐和晚餐时段销量的成长一向都不明显，但是早餐并不是如此，反而都维持著稳定的成长呢。" 同样的，您可以发现在1944年麦片生产商的广告行销策略上，找到同样的逻辑-也就是前文所说的"早餐是一天当中最重要的一餐"

 

 

“Breakfast is the grocer's most promising target,” one of their ad men explained. “Lunch and dinner in the average American home are fairly well set."

"早餐是食品业中最具潜力的标竿，这是因为其他两餐本来就已经常见于一般的美国家庭了"参与行销广告的一位从业者如此表示著

 

二战期间，营业学者们认为最好的早餐组合应该是全谷麦片搭配水果，图片来源：Brooke Lark, Unsplash

 

Did the marketers and executives genuinely believe in the value of promoting a cereal breakfast as healthy? Nutritionists had debated back and forth for decades whether America’s increasingly desk-bound workforce needed a hearty breakfast. (Really we’ve never stopped.) But by the time of the 1944 campaign, during World War II, government nutritionists had sided with the pro-breakfast camp. In the interest of improving the health of army recruits, they teamed up with cereal companies to suggest that everyone eat a “good breakfast of whole-grain cereal and fruit.”

 

不过负责相关产品的行销人员和管理阶级，向大众推广在早餐时吃麦片的观念的目的，真的就是在促进大众的健康吗？多年来，面对待办公室内的上班族越来越多的状况，许多营养学者们不断在争论著，到底他们需不需要一顿丰盛的早餐呢？(到现在这些讨论都还没停止过)。不过当1944年(也就是二战的战间期时)的政府宣传广告推出后，至少政府机关里的营养学者的风向就有转向，认为吃早餐是对人体是有害无益的。尤其当年正逢二战期间，为了要改善受征招的人员的健康状况，他们就和麦片厂商合作，并宣告"如果要吃一顿好的早餐，那么就应该要用全谷类麦片(whole-grain cereal)来搭配水果来做食用"

 

随著近年来的科技发展，研究人员发现，早餐对于体重管理及学生的成绩表现并没有明显的关联性，图片来源：Alisa Anton, Unsplash

 

Nutritionists are less certain about the value of this advice today. Those studying the issue say that studies that supported the importance of breakfast for weight management have been contradicted by more rigorous examinations—and that studies that examine the importance of schoolchildren eating breakfast have failed to show that breakfast (by itself) helps them focus on their work.

 

时间点拉回到70年后的现在，营养学者们其实不太认同这样的观点。有些学者透过更先进的研究技术，发现早餐其实对于体重管理的重要性并没有跟原本设想一样。此外，目前也没有研究证据显示：有固定吃早餐的学生，在表现上会比没有这个习惯的来得好。

 

虽然早餐相关品项的营销成长速度惊人，但因为原本美国人就很少有吃早餐的习惯。对于食品业来说，是个极需投入并推广的市场，图片来源：Jonathan Pielmayer, Unsplash

 

But you won’t hear that from marketers. Breakfast is the most skipped meal in America, which means money on the table for the food industry.

 

但当然，您不可能也不会从相关的营销人员听到这些话的。这是因为，虽然在美国境内早餐相关产品营收的成长速度惊人，但仍是美国人最少吃到的一餐，这对于食品业来说，是个极需推广并投入的新市场。

 

虽然就本质上来看，怀疑有时候会阻隔了人与人之间的信任。但是在面对像是大众所认为的常理时，难免会需要怀疑，图片来源：Marcus Cramer, Unsplash

 

It’s always a good idea to remain skeptical of the claims made in advertisements and the ideas expressed by organizations with vested interests. But with breakfast foods, skepticism is particularly necessary. Since advertising is the foundation of the entire ready-to-eat industry, the incentives for deception are strong.

 

如果对于前文所述的那些广告宣传仍保有质疑的话，这的确是一件好事。本来在面对这种大众认为是习以为常的观念时，保有怀疑的心是必要的。这是因为大众真的受到多年来相关从业者的大力宣传的影响，难免会有深植人心的状况。

 

电扶梯旁各式各样的广告，图片来源：Mona Eendra, Unsplash

 

Be vigilant. Breakfast is the most marketed meal of the day.

由此可知，早餐其实是最常被推销而不是最重要的一餐呢。

 

结论

本篇一开始先以早餐历史的介绍为主，从早餐的问世讲起，接著到了19世纪后，拜工业革命所赐，麦片的推广受到了大众们的重视，进而促进了现代早餐业的发展。尽管多年来，大众对于早餐的需求量并不若其他两餐。但因为需求量的成长幅度相当惊人的关系，使得相关业者大力推广吃早餐的好处。不过随著科学的发展，许多研究人员发现，这些所谓的好处背后并没有确切的科学根据所支持著。作者想要透过文章的叙述，来告诉读者-那些习以为常、看似定则的事物其实都需要受检验、需要去怀疑的。

 

原文出处：How Breakfast Became a Thing
原文作者：Alex Mayyasi
撰文日期：2016.5.9