“Kale Ruined Everything!” Deploying Discrete Humor as Nutritional Messaging in Contemporary the Simpsons

The Simpsons uses absurd humor to portray modern, middle-class American life, including everyday food practices. Assuming entertainment media plays a role in shaping food consumption, as prior research suggests, examining the role of humor in food portrayals is warranted in the context of diet-related health concerns and widespread use of humor in this popular comedy series. The study aims to (a) examine changes in food- and beverage-related messaging in The Simpsons over four decades, and (b) analyze the relationship between humor, food type, and onscreen consequences in contemporary The Simpsons. Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, food and beverage incidents in Season 28 of The Simpsons were coded for nutritional content, humor type, character nature, and onscreen consequences. We found that food and beverage portrayals were still dominated by nutritionally poor options, but compared with earlier seasons, there were more portrayals of fruits and vegetables, suggesting alignment with current dietary guidelines. However, superiority humor in fruits and vegetables depicted them as pretentious, unappealing, and associated with punishments, thus undermining the benefits of their increased visibility. In contrast, incongruity and relief humor made portrayals of ultra-processed foods more appealing by presenting them as rewards despite their unhealthiness.