The Biasing Health Halos of Fast-Food Restaurant Health Claims: Lower Calorie Estimates and Higher Side-Dish Consumption Intentions

Abstract

Why is America a land of low-calorie food claims yet high-calorie food intake? Four studies show that people are more likely to underestimate the caloric content of main dishes and to choose higher-calorie side dishes, drinks, or desserts when fast-food restaurants claim to be healthy (e.g., Subway) compared to when they do not (e.g., McDonald's). We also find that the effect of these health halos can be eliminated by simply asking people to consider whether the opposite of such health claims may be true. These studies help explain why the success of fast-food restaurants serving lower-calorie foods has not led to the expected reduction in total calorie intake and in obesity rates. They also suggest innovative strategies for consumers, marketers, and policy makers searching for ways to fight obesity. (c) 2007 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Colour correct: the interactive effects of food label nutrition colouring schemes and food category healthiness on health perceptions

“…The findings reported in the present study confirmed earlier research that colour is indeed influential in forming consumer impressions of healthiness (10) ; however, it has contributed by demonstrating that this effect is subject to the moderating influence of product category heuristic halos (3,33) . Results show that perceived healthiness of a product has biasing influence on what role colour coding can play in healthfulness evaluations, thus importantly qualifying earlier work on colour labels' efficacy in healthful food selection (11,12) .…”

When Healthy Food Makes You Hungry

“…Also consistent with our hypothesis, previous research demonstrates that healthy eating can rebound, for example, when individuals increased consumption of (both healthy and unhealthy) food after eating food that was presented as low-fat or as coming from a small-quantity package (Chandon and Wansink 2007;Coelho Do Vale, Pieters, and Zeelenberg 2008;Raghunathan et al 2006). However, if satisfying the health goal makes people feel hungry, we expect that they should be hungrier than when they do not eat anything.…”

“…Previous research attests that people make logical inferences that low-calorie food is less fulfilling than high-calorie food and thus overcompensate by eating too much of both healthy and unhealthy food. For example, participants who sampled foods labeled as "low fat" consumed more food, regardless of the food's healthful properties, than when they sampled foods labeled as "regular" (Chandon and Wansink 2007;Wansink and Chandon 2006). Whereas logical inferences of this type account for differences in consumption between healthy and unhealthy foods, they are not the underlying mechanism for the effect of healthy food on experienced hunger.…”

“…Not only does healthy eating require certain restrictions, but people's belief that healthy food is generally less fulfilling than unhealthy alternatives further increases the conflict. For example, people estimate the calorie content of fast food meals that are advertised as healthy as lower compared to an unhealthy alternative (e.g., Subway vs. MacDonald's; Chandon and Wansink 2007). We recently conducted a survey in a campus cafeteria where we asked customers to rate how healthy various items were and how many calories each item had.…”

All in the Family? Parental Roles in the Epidemic of Childhood Obesity

“…Helping parents to understand how common heuristics affect their own food choices is a possibility, and consumer research offers many insights here. For example, Chandon and Wansink (2007) found that adult consumers underestimate calories in a restaurant with a health positioning (Subway), and suggest educational interventions to combat such tendencies. These could be used by parents to modify their own behavior, and to educate their children when eating out.…”