We often think we decide for ourselves what we eat that we consciously choose what’s healthy or what we’re craving. But in reality, our choices are shaped every day by what is visible, accessible and tempting around us. From supermarket aisles to petrol stations, from shopping streets to social media: everywhere, we’re subtly pushed toward unhealthy choices.
We live in an environment that constantly tempts us, and unhealthy food has seemingly become the default while healthy food is the exception.
Talking about “unhealthy food environments” sounds technical and distant. That’s why, together with the Voedingscentrum, we introduced a new term for an everyday problem: the Food Ambush.
A term that captures exactly what happens when unhealthy food pops up and pressures us from all sides. That feeling of giving in again and again, of being tempted everywhere. The Food Ambush makes the problem visible, discussable and human. Because only when we can name it, can we start to change it.
In the Stop the Food Ambush campaign, the food environment was given a face. AI-brought-to-life mascots, from a bag of crisps to an ice cream, embody the intrusive nature of our food system. They chase people down, smile just a little too brightly, and appear where you least expect them.
The campaign makes one thing clear: this isn’t an individual problem, but a system problem. We can’t keep holding people responsible for their willpower while the environment constantly pushes them toward unhealthy choices. This is a conversation we need to have as a society as a whole.
