Flavor halos andconsumer perceptions offood healthfulness

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine how repeated exposure to health-related products that contain flavors (e.g. cherry-flavored cough syrup) create “flavor halos” that can bias perceptions about the healthfulness of foods that contain the same flavors (e.g. cherry-flavored cheesecake). Design/methodology/approach Six experiments, using both between- and within-subjects designs, explore the effects of flavor halos in hypothetical and actual consumption settings. They test the underlying mechanism, rule out competing explanations and identify an opportunity to correct the cognitive biases created by flavor halos. Findings Flavor halos can be created via repeated exposure to flavored medicinal products in the marketplace. These flavor halos bias dieters’ judgments about the healthfulness of vice foods containing such flavors. Dieters are motivated toward a directional conclusion about food healthfulness to mediate the guilt associated with consuming indulgent products. Providing dieters with corrective information mitigates these effects. Research limitations/implications The authors examine one way flavor halos are created –via repeated exposure to flavored medicinal products. Future research should explore other ways flavor halos are created and other ways to mitigate their effects. Practical implications Considering the prevalence of obesity, organizations striving to help consumers pursue health goals (e.g. weight watchers) can use flavors to improve dietary compliance. Health-care organizations can help consumers understand and correct the cognitive biases associated with flavor halos. Originality/value By identifying flavor halos, this work adds to the literature investigating how flavors influence consumers’ judgments about healthfulness. The results suggest dieters apply flavor halos as they engage in motivated reasoning to license their indulgent desires.

When do digital calorie counters reduce numeracy bias in grocery shopping? Evidence from an online experiment

“…A device that can assist in providing aggregated information may be able to reduce the impact of such health halo effects by providing a more accurate estimation of the nutritional value of the food consumed. Likewise, the literature on nutrition labels finds consumers focus only on a subset of information on a label and overlook other types of information (Graham et al , 2012; Pham et al , 2019). This might be because most food choices are made using our reflexive, fast-thinking processes (Kahneman, 2012; Vecchio and Cavallo, 2019).…”

Feeling guilty and willingness to buy organic food: the moderating role of motherhood

“…Guilt also plays a role in the levels of consumers' consumption of unhealthy and healthy food (Bui et al, 2017). Pham et al (2019) also found that dieters anticipate less consumption guilt related to flavors that they perceive healthy. Yu et al (2020) found that consumers' guilt perceptions influence their search for healthier and more sustainable food choices.…”

The health halo of morality- and purity-signifying brand names

“…extra calcium, high in fiber] (Roe et al, 1999;Sundar and Kardes, 2015), nutritional labels (Andrews et al, 2000), fair trade labels (Schuldt et al, 2012;Sundar and Kardes, 2015) and heart health labels (Ford et al, 1996). Beyond labels, the health halo has also been demonstrated for fast food health claims (Chandon and Wansink, 2007), food package characteristics (Bui et al, 2017;Clement et al, 2017), flavors (Pham et al, 2019) and even CSR claims (Wei et al, 2018).…”