Effects of bitten food images in marketing communications.

Marketing communications (e.g., food packages, restaurant menus, coupons, social media posts) often include images of bitten and non-bitten (i.e., complete) foods. Taking an empirics first approach, the current research explores how and why these images influence consumers. A field study shows a higher redemption rate for discount coupons featuring a bitten (vs. non-bitten) food. However, a controlled online study fails to replicate this effect. Two additional preregistered studies shed light on the inconsistent results observed online and in the field by identifying two competing mechanisms catalyzed by bitten food images. Bitten food images lead to vicarious enticement, an automatic process in which a viewer makes sense of a bitten food image by picturing someone approaching and tasting the food, as well as emotional conflict (i.e., the simultaneous activation of positive and negative thoughts and feelings). While vicarious enticement has a positive impact on product responses, emotional conflict has a negative impact. The effect of bitten (vs. non-bitten) food images on product responses appears to depend on the strength of these two mechanisms in a given context. These findings yield insights for researchers examining visual characteristics of food images as well as advertisers designing marketing communications.

Contained: why it's better to display some products without a package.

Across varying marketplace contexts (e.g., grocery stores, restaurants, e-commerce) managers display products with and without packaging, seemingly arbitrarily. Does displaying a product packaged as opposed to unpackaged influence consumers' product responses? Six controlled experiments and an Instagram study address this question. We focus primarily on food products but show our results extend to non-food products that are natural (i.e., originate from plants, animals, or humans). We propose that, in addition to its physical function, packaging acts as a symbolic barrier that separates the product from nature, decreasing perceived product naturalness and leading to less favorable product responses. Consistent with our theorizing, the negative effects of packaging attenuate when product information or retail signage highlights the product's connection to nature and are contingent on the importance of product naturalness. Our findings have implications for strategic use of packaging in physical and digital merchandising and sustainability initiatives aimed at reducing packaging. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11747-021-00800-3.

Smiling faces on food packages can increase adults' purchase likelihood for children.

Manufacturers often include smiling faces on food packages, especially those targeted towards children. Prior research suggests that anthropomorphized images in general, and smiling faces in particular, are an effective marketing tool that encourage food choice and consumption among children. However, it is not clear how adult consumers, who often make food purchases for children, respond to smiling faces on packaging when making decisions for a child recipient. The results of four experiments show that food packages with (vs. without) smiling faces activate child-related thoughts which leads to expectations of making a child happy with the food and ultimately greater purchase likelihood for the child recipient. The serial effects of smiling faces on purchase likelihood through child-related thoughts and the expectations of a child's emotional reaction are robust to an array of products with more and less appealing flavors. Further, a smile line in the absence of eyes does not catalyze the same serial mechanism. Overall, our findings suggest that marketers should exercise caution when utilizing smiling faces on food packages, especially when packages contain unhealthy foods; and, consumers should be aware of the effects that this seemingly innocent packaging feature can have on their product responses.

A rapid review of stocking and marketing practices used to sell sugar-sweetened beverages in U.S. food stores.

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a primary source of added sugars in the American diet. Habitual SSB consumption is associated with obesity and noncommunicable disease and is one factor contributing to U.S. health disparities. Public health responses to address marketing-mix and choice-architecture (MMCA) strategies used to sell SSB products may be required. Thus, our goal was to identify original research about stocking and marketing practices used to sell SSB in U.S. food stores. We used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) protocol for rapid reviewing. We searched six databases and Google Scholar using key terms focused on store type and SSB products. We characterized results using an MMCA framework with categories place, profile, portion, pricing, promotion, priming or prompting, and proximity. Our search resulted in the identification of 29 articles. Most results focused on profile (e.g., SSB availability) (n = 13), pricing (e.g., SSB prices or discounts) (n = 13), or promotion (e.g., SSB advertisements) (n = 13) strategies. We found some evidence of targeted MMCA practices toward at-risk consumers and differences by store format, such as increased SSB prominence among supermarkets. The potential for systematic variations in MMCA strategies used to sell SSB requires more research. We discuss implications for public health, health equity, and environmental sustainability.