The Light = Healthy Intuition

Yi Li, Nico Heuvinck and Mario Pandelaere
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Nico Heuvinck: LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This research documents a "light = healthy" intuition, such that consumers perceive foods that weigh less are healthier than their heavier counterparts with the same serving size. Subsequently, consumers consume a larger quantity of lighter-weight foods. The intuition is based on a coactivation of two meanings of the word "light": light in physical weight and light in calorie content. An implicit attitude test finds support for this association between physical weight and food healthiness. ​Subsequently, physically lighter foods are perceived to be healthier because they are assumed to contain fewer calories. In line with the proposed coactivation mechanism, the intuition is bidirectional, where consumers also expect healthier foods to weigh less. Consequently, they discredit health claims issued for heavier foods. Finally, it was found that activating a competing intuition is effective at debiasing the "light = healthy" intuition.

Date: 2021-05-02
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Published in Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2021, ⟨10.1002/jcpy.1249⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03274881

DOI: 10.1002/jcpy.1249

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