An (un)healthy poster: When environmental cues affect consumers’ food choices at vending machines

Stöckli, Sabrina; Stämpfli, Aline E.; Messner, Claude; Brunner, Thomas (2016). An (un)healthy poster: When environmental cues affect consumers’ food choices at vending machines Appetite, 96, pp. 368-374. Elsevier 10.1016/j.appet.2015.09.034

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Environmental cues can affect food decisions. There is growing evidence that environmental cues influence how much one consumes. This article demonstrates that environmental cues can similarly impact the healthiness of consumers’ food choices. Two field studies examined this effect with consumers of vending machine foods who were exposed to different posters. In field study 1, consumers with a health-evoking nature poster compared to a pleasure-evoking fun fair poster or no poster in their visual sight were more likely to opt for healthy snacks. Consumers were also more likely to buy healthy snacks when primed by an activity poster than when exposed to the fun fair poster. In field study 2, this consumer pattern recurred with a poster of skinny Giacometti sculptures. Overall, the results extend the mainly laboratory-based evidence by demonstrating the health-relevant impact of environmental cues on food decisions in the field. Results are discussed in light of priming literature emphasizing the relevance of preexisting associations, mental concepts and goals.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Consumer-focused Food Production
Name:	Stöckli, Sabrina; Stämpfli, Aline E.; Messner, Claude and Brunner, Thomas0000-0002-6770-6548
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
ISSN:	01956663
Publisher:	Elsevier
Language:	English
Submitter:	David Zimmer
Date Deposited:	04 Nov 2019 14:35
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2020 13:29
Publisher DOI:	10.1016/j.appet.2015.09.034
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Environmental cue; Healthy nutrition; Food choice; Priming; Mental concept
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.8303
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/8303