The Effect of Package Size on Consumption: the Role of Perceived Healthiness

Presentation Type

Poster

Keywords

marketing, nutrition, health, package size, consumer behavior

Department

Business Administration

Major

Business Administration, Marketing Minor

Abstract

Food marketing, and specifically package size, is seen as the main factor affecting obesity. And so, it has been the focus of several research analyses and the interest of public policy makers. Some research has looked at package size influence but not many have analyzed the interplay between the healthiness of the food, package size and amount consumed. In this paper, we take a closer look at this interplay. Specifically, we are interested in how two food items, M&Ms and Almonds, which are perceived to have the same caloric content, but one is seen as healthier (almond) than the other (M&M), and how this impacts the amount consumed. We predict that for larger package sizes, individuals will consume more of the unhealthy food because of its rewarding nature, and they aren’t aware of what a recommended single serve amount is. On the flip side, we believe that for smaller package sizes, individuals will consume more of the healthy food item due to lessened guilt, called the “halo effect” of healthy foods. We conducted a 2*2 experiment determining if people eat more or less of a healthy versus unhealthy food item, with the factor of whether they are given a single serve package or a large, multi-serve package.

Results show that our hypotheses were supported, with more of an unhealthy snack being consumed with a larger package, and more healthy food consumed with single serve packages. Implications, Limitations and Future work are discussed.

Faculty Mentor

Alice Labban

Funding Source or Research Program

Academic Year Undergraduate Research Initiative

Location

Waves Cafeteria

Start Date

24-3-2017 2:00 PM

End Date

24-3-2017 3:00 PM

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Mar 24th, 2:00 PM Mar 24th, 3:00 PM

The Effect of Package Size on Consumption: the Role of Perceived Healthiness

Waves Cafeteria

Food marketing, and specifically package size, is seen as the main factor affecting obesity. And so, it has been the focus of several research analyses and the interest of public policy makers. Some research has looked at package size influence but not many have analyzed the interplay between the healthiness of the food, package size and amount consumed. In this paper, we take a closer look at this interplay. Specifically, we are interested in how two food items, M&Ms and Almonds, which are perceived to have the same caloric content, but one is seen as healthier (almond) than the other (M&M), and how this impacts the amount consumed. We predict that for larger package sizes, individuals will consume more of the unhealthy food because of its rewarding nature, and they aren’t aware of what a recommended single serve amount is. On the flip side, we believe that for smaller package sizes, individuals will consume more of the healthy food item due to lessened guilt, called the “halo effect” of healthy foods. We conducted a 2*2 experiment determining if people eat more or less of a healthy versus unhealthy food item, with the factor of whether they are given a single serve package or a large, multi-serve package.

Results show that our hypotheses were supported, with more of an unhealthy snack being consumed with a larger package, and more healthy food consumed with single serve packages. Implications, Limitations and Future work are discussed.