The pleasure of sharing: Can social context make healthy food more appealing?

Abstract

This study investigates whether healthy food can be made more appealing by looking at the pleasure induced by the social context in which food is eaten (eating alone, eating together, or sharing food), assuming that pleasure affects food appeal. Whereas unhealthy food is often considered a source of pleasure, healthy food is not. The pleasure induced in images portraying healthy food may depend on the social context in which the food is eaten. Based on evolutionary associations of sharing food and social interaction with pleasure, we expected that eating together induces more pleasure than eating alone and that sharing food induces more pleasure than eating together. Two between‐subject experiments with a 3 (context: eating alone, eating together, or sharing food) × 2 (healthfulness: healthy or unhealthy) design were conducted across various age groups and food types. Results indicate that images in which healthy food is shared induce more pleasure than images in which healthy food is eaten alone, making the food involved more appealing. Pleasurable imagery of healthy food being shared therefore seems to hold promise as a strategy to promote healthy eating through public service or commercial advertising.

The shape effect: Round shapes increase consumers' preference for hedonic foods

“…Thus, if marketers are trying to encourage the consumption of hedonic foods (e.g., chocolates, cheesecakes, and candies), then they should use a round‐shape design, targeting consumers who have low health motivation. By contrast, other tactics (e.g., Maldoy et al, 2021; Mauri et al, 2021) should be considered when utilitarian foods or consumers with high health motivation are targeted because of the ineffectiveness of food shape on these types of foods and consumers.…”

Evolutionary psychology in marketing: Deep, debated, but fancier with fieldwork

“…First, almost all empirical studies in this special issue ( n = 25; 92.59%) have exclusively relied on online panel participants, university students, or a combination of these sample types. Only two of the 27 empirical studies (7.41%) contain other samples, corresponding to secondary school adolescents in Maldoy et al (2021; Study 1) and women at a shopping district in Russell et al (2021; Study 1). These numbers do not align well with the notion that EP‐based consumer research is less prone to the WEIRD bias (Saad, 2020), which means that samples almost entirely consist of people from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies (Henrich et al, 2010a, 2010b).…”

“…Maldoy et al (2021) examine how the presence of others can make healthy foods appear more appealing. They argue that eating in social settings, such as when food is shared or consumed together, induces higher levels of pleasure than eating alone, consistent with the notion that the mere presence of others can increase the affective state of pleasure (Otterbring & Lu, 2018; Söderlund, 2016).…”

“…test whether men's proenvironmental consumption acts as an honest signal of altruism, commitment as a partner and father, and mate value in short-and long-term mating contexts (for a similar investigation, seePalomo-Vélez et al, 2020).Next,Vinuales and Thomas (2021) focus on the affiliative aspects by testing whether certain social media posts that lack a form of social acceptance and hence can be thought of as failing to attract sufficient community reactions (e.g., posts with fewer likes) may increase individuals' perceptions of social exclusion, leading to more negative attitudes toward the branded content featured in the posts, lower purchase intentions, and reduced interest in the brand Maldoy et al (2021). examine how the presence of others can make healthy foods appear more appealing.…”

How Will We Dine? Prospective Shifts in International Haute Cuisine and Innovation beyond Kitchen and Plate

“…The sharing economy made the idea of sharing not only a major economic but also cultural trend [114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121]. Therefore, also food sharing within the restaurant is also becoming increasingly popular [122]. Plates with prepared food are put on the table to encourage customers to help themselves.…”