Messages from the Food Police: How Food-Related Warnings Backfire among Dieters

Pham, Nguyen; Mandel, Naomi; Morales, Andrea C.

doi:10.1086/684394

Cited by 41 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Menu changes were introduced without any substantial public relations campaign, avoiding a potentially negative consumer response if consumers perceived that healthy items may not taste as good or be as fun (Berning, Couinard, and McCluskey 2011) or if consumers perceived that the use of healthy defaults threatened their freedom, resulting in consumers intentionally opting out of the healthy defaults in order to counteract this perceived threat (Pham, Mandel, and Morales 2016). This allowed consumers to become accustomed to the new offerings before the changes were deliberately brought to the public’s attention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Healthy Defaults in Walt Disney World Restaurants to Improve Nutritional Choices

Peters

Beck

Lande

et al. 2016

Journal of the Association for Consumer Research

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A retrospective study of kids’ meals purchased at Walt Disney World was conducted to determine acceptance rates for healthy sides and beverages. Purchase data from all 145 Walt Disney World restaurants were analyzed using a log-linear model and a Poisson regression. Across all restaurants, 47.9% and 66.3% of guests accepted healthy default sides and beverages, respectively. Acceptance rates of sides and beverages were higher at quick-service restaurants (49.4% and 67.8%, respectively) compared to table-service restaurants (40.3% and 45.6%, respectively). The healthy defaults reduced calories (21.4%), fat (43.9%), and sodium (43.4%) for kids’ meal sides and beverages. This study contributes by examining the use of kids’ meal healthy defaults in quick-service and table-service restaurant formats at the world’s largest theme park, a previously unstudied setting, and by providing the largest ever healthy default data set. The results suggest that healthy defaults can shift food and beverage selection patterns toward healthier options.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Healthy Defaults in Walt Disney World Restaurants to Improve Nutritional Choices

Peters

Beck

Lande

et al. 2016

Journal of the Association for Consumer Research

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“…But it is difficult to imagine how these small steps might be implemented by the public health authorities, especially given evidence that consumers can react negatively to heavy-handed approaches (Pham et al 2016). The best public health approach would appear to be to provide information and ideas for implementing small changes and leaving the changing to others.…”

Section: The Larger Theme: Small Steps Toward Overcoming Obesitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Whether Smaller Plates Reduce Consumption Depends on Who's Serving and Who's Looking: A Meta-Analysis

2015

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The literature on whether varying plate size has an effect on consumption is mixed and contradictory. This meta-analysis of 56 studies from 20 papers shows that varying the size of the container holding food (e.g., plate or bowl) has a substantial effect on amount self-served and/or consumed (Cohen's d 5 .43). More generally, we found a doubling of plate size increased the amount self-served or amount consumed by 41%. Our analysis resolves the various contradictions of past reviews: we found that the plate-size effect had a substantial effect on amount self-served (d 5 .51) and on amount consumed when the portion was self-served (d 5 .70) or manipulated along with (confounded with) plate size (d 5 48). However, plate size had no effect on amount consumed when the portion size was held constant (d 5 .03). Overall, plate size had a stronger effect when participants were unaware that they were participating in a food study (d 5 .76).

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“…Block, Williamson, and Keller (2016) demonstrate that paper plates influence the amount of food served, consumed, and wasted, and Szocs and Biswas (2016) showed how the choice of a spoon or fork influences calorie perceptions and possibly food intake. Last, Pham, Mandel, and Morales (2016) close the special issue showing how dieters exhibit reactance in response to well-meant advice about foods they are about to choose and how this presents a powerful lesson for food and policy activists.…”

Section: The Papers: What Is Special About This Issue?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For them, it is easy to mistakenly focus on an article's unusual context and not see the true contribution. Consider the paper by Pham, Mandel, and Morales (2016) about how dieters respond to negative messages. Viewing this as a "diet paper" would lead people to miss how this paper cleverly illustrates a much larger theme: the role of government and freedom of choice.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%