Nudging Consumers toward Healthier Food Choices: A Field Study on the Effect of Social Norms

Abstract

Food choices influence the health of individuals, and supermarkets are the place where part of the world population makes their food choices on a daily basis. Different methods to influence food purchasing habits are used, from promotions to food location. However, very few supermarket chains use social norms, the human need to conform to the perceived behavior of the group, to increase healthy food purchase habits. This research seeks to understand how a social norm nudge, a message conveying fruit and vegetable purchasing norms positioned in strategic places, can effectively change food choices. Using data from an intervention in a Portuguese supermarket, the fruit and vegetable purchase quantities of 1636 customers were measured over three months and compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. The results show that the nudge intervention positively affected those whose purchasing habits are categorized as less healthy, while those with healthy habits were slightly negatively affected. Moreover, a follow-up inferential statistical analysis allows us to conclude that applying this intervention at a larger scale would deliver significant financial results for the supermarket chain in which the study took place, by decreasing the costs related to produce perishability while simultaneously improving the health of the consumer and the sustainability of the planet.

A dynamic social norm messaging intervention to reduce meat consumption: A randomized cross-over trial in retail store restaurants

“…However, the evidence relating to the use of social norm messages to increase the consumption of plant-based foods and reduce meat consumption is sparse. The majority of previous studies on social norms and plant-based eating have used static norm messaging and focused on increasing fruit and vegetable intake rather than encouraging a switch from meat-to plant-based options (Collins et al, 2019;Gonçalves, Coelho, Martinez, & Monteiro, 2021;Huitink, Poelman, van den Eynde, Seidell, & Dijkstra, 2020;Mollen, Rimal, Ruiter, & Kok, 2013;Thomas et al, 2017). Two systematic reviews about sustainable eating behaviors (Taufik, Verain, Bouwman, & Reinders, 2019) and reducing meat consumption (Harguess, Crespo, & Hong, 2020) found only one study that used social norm messaging as an intervention to encourage a switch from meat-to plant-based meals (Sparkman & Walton, 2019).…”

Innovation as a Factor Increasing Fruit Consumption: The Case of Poland

“…The problem of low fruit and vegetable consumption in comparison with dietary recommendations concerns more than a half of the WHO countries, mainly Eastern Europe [ 43 ]. Considering the nutritional value of these products, their protective effects against various chronic diseases and the fact that a diet rich in vegetables and fruit has a beneficial effect on the environment, many countries are undertaking intervention activities, mainly of educational [ 43 ] and marketing nature, but also within the scope of the so-called nudge interventions [ 50 ]. Such activities are also undertaken in Poland.…”

Are Perceptions of Health Dependant on Social Class? Studying Soft Power and Symbolic Violence in a Health Promotion Program among Young Men at Vocational Schools

“…The latter two introduce, in line with the SCT, the idea that environments have a significant impact on behaviour and that environments can be architectured, designed and engineered in order to promote certain behaviours that are thought to be healthy. Examples of choice architectures include making healthy foods more, as well as social nudges building on the idea that individuals are inspired by what others are doing [ 48 , 49 ], repeated exposure [ 50 , 51 ], salience [ 52 , 53 , 54 ], gamification [ 55 , 56 ].…”