The need for public policies to promote healthier food consumption: A comment on Wansink and Chandon (2014)

Abstract

Current approaches to addressing obesity have fallen short. This is largely due to the many environmental forces that undermine people's self‐regulatory capacity to be personally responsible for their food choices. Novel insights from the social sciences are needed to inform voluntary, health‐promoting actions by companies, institutions, and citizens as well as the design of public health policies. Voluntary interventions that rely on nudges should complement traditional public health strategies such as taxation and restriction of child‐targeted marketing in schools. In this commentary, we discuss four food policy issues that would benefit from consumer psychology research: (a) the restriction of food marketing to children, (b) provision of nutrition information through food labels, (c) improving school food environments, and (d) placing limits on portion sizes. Identifying effective solutions for obesity will require approaches that integrate psychological, public health, and legal perspectives and methods.

A qualitative study of parents' perceptions and use of portion size strategies for preschool children's snacks

“…The growing trend in use of prepackaged snacks by parents of preschool aged children may be an opportunity for the food industry to think about how to right-size child portions so that the appropriate portion size is the default option (Rolls, B.J., Roe, L.S. et al, 2004; Roberto, C.A., Pomeranz, J.L. et al, 2014).…”

Where is “Islamic marketing” heading?

“…Those who watched the documentaries Confessions of a Shopaholic and Supersize Me can also relate to the modern shades, shadows, and projections of consumption (Bruckheimer & Hogan, 2009;Spurlock & Spurlock, 2004). Roberto, Pomeranz, and Fisher (2014) lament the hazards of unhealthy food consumption (cf. Ammar, El-Bassiouny, & Hawash, 2015).…”

The Influence of Bundling and Caloric Knowledge on Calories Ordered and Purchase Intent

“…Recent research focuses on how the properties and/or placement of stimuli within a consumer's environment affect healthy choice behaviors (Hollands et al ; Wansink ). As suggested by Roberto, Pomeranz, and Fisher (), environmental cues at the point of service and during consumption establish benchmarks regarding the appropriate amount of food to consume, “nudging” diners toward healthy or unhealthy choices. Several recent studies have examined how these types of cues affect estimates of portion size (e.g., McFerran et al ; Wansink and Chandon ) and caloric intake (e.g., Chandon and Wansink 2007a, 2007b; Chernev and Gal ), particularly in the context of fast food.…”