Motivating healthy eating: The role of presentation format and health consciousness

Research on improving healthy eating has shown that paternalistic strategies, which rely on educating consumers and increasing health consciousness (HC), tend to be ineffective. The present research explores an approach that relies on subtle environmental changes and consumers' innate motivations to improve food decision making. Specifically, we test whether changes in the presentation format (picture vs. text) of healthy food items can increase hedonic perceptions and consumption intentions, especially among consumers low in HC. In Study 1, participants evaluated the hedonic and health-related properties of a fruit salad. In Study 2, participants evaluated the hedonic- and health-related properties of an entrée (zucchini pasta with cauliflower sauce) and indicated their consumption intentions. The results show that while health-related perceptions did not change as a function of presentation format or HC, participants low in HC rated a healthy food item as more hedonically pleasing and were more likely to choose that item when it was presented in picture rather than text format. In contrast, presentation format did not influence the evaluations and consumption intentions of participants high in HC.