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
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.