Visual Size Matters: The Effect of Product Depiction Size on Calorie Estimates

Abstract

Consumers’ calorie estimates are often biased and inaccurate. Even the presence of relevant nutritional information may not suffice to prevent consumer biases in calorie estimation. The current work demonstrates across two studies that visual cues given by larger product depictions lead to increased calorie estimates. Further, it demonstrates that these effects occur even when consumers are given, and notice, information about product quantity. The findings thus shed light on a novel biasing effect on consumer calorie evaluation, and, more generally, the findings provide evidence for the importance of visual inputs over textual ones in consumers’ nutritional assessment of food products. In this, the current research provides insights relevant to helping nutritional literacy via awareness of biasing influences on caloric assessment. In the same manner, the research also provides insights that may assist the regulator protecting consumers by highlighting factors biasing nutritional assessment.

The influence of companies' moral associations on the product consumption experience: The role of moral disgust

“…Likewise, Waber et al (2008) showed that price affected the therapeutic efficacy of medications due to the association between (higher) price and product efficacy. In the food domain, research has shown that visual cues that imply larger food size (e.g., larger packaging images) increase people's judgment of the food's caloric value, because size is associated with caloric content (Tal et al, 2021). More closely related to taste, seeing food products in motion was found to enhance their taste due to the perceived association of motion with freshness (Gvili et al, 2017).…”