PhD research with printed ephemera

Congratulations to Bodil Mostad Olsen who has been awarded her PhD based on a study of printed ephemera. ‘A diachronic study of food labels with a particular focus on verbal and pictorial narratives that are relevant to health’ is about the verbal and visual presentation of health messages on food labels dating from 1850 to 1970.

The study demonstrated that language and imagery used on food labels to depict the food’s health advantages is repeatedly linked to critical incidents related to health, indicating that manufacturers at any time have understood the marketing potential of including health-related information on their products.

Four case studies show how particular health messages are represented visually and verbally and consider how:

• the use of the word ‘pure’ on food labels from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to communicate non-adulterated food,
• early nutrition science reflects the representation of vitamins in a selection of food labels from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s,
• post-war diets and health are reflected on labels for convenience food, and
• labels for milk and milk-related products and how they have changed over time.

Previously, Bodil also won the University’s prize for research communication in a poster competition, held as part of the University’s annual Doctoral Research Conference.