Is this advertisement designed to appeal to you? Adolescents' views about Instagram advertisements promoting ultra-processed products.

OBJECTIVE: Examine the key elements that characterise social media advertisements targeted at adolescents by asking adolescents which features of Instagram ads promoting ultra-processed products make them designed to appeal to adolescents. DESIGN: Instagram ads promoting ultra-processed products and brands were selected from a database in which ads had been classified regarding whether they were primarily targeted at adolescents from an adult perspective. Adolescents completed a sorting task in small groups and were requested to reach a consensus through discussions and sticky notes regarding whether sixty ads were designed to appeal to them. The sorting task was analysed using content analysis based on inductive coding. SETTING: One private secondary school and two after-school clubs. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 105 Uruguayan adolescents aged 11-17 years. RESULTS: Ten categories were identified regarding the reasons for sorting ads as (not) designed to appeal to adolescents: product type, graphic design, explicit references to age groups, language, activities or themes, memes, celebrities, characters, promotions and novelty. Product type emerged as a key element, with adolescents perceiving ads as designed to appeal to them simply because they promoted specific products. CONCLUSIONS: This research contributes to the validation of criteria defined in previous studies and can be used for the development of tools to monitor the prevalence and power of adolescent-targeted digital marketing. However, the importance attributed to type of product suggests that regulations should not exclusively focus on exposure to digital marketing specifically targeted at adolescents but also on exposure to marketing in general.

Consumer susceptibility to front-of-package (FOP) food labeling: Scale development and validation.

Current research in food science has explored the influence of front-of-package (FOP) labeling systems on consumer decision-making, yielding mixed results. We suggest that these inconsistent findings regarding FOP labeling effectiveness stem from a failure to consider a pivotal individual-level variable: consumer susceptibility to FOP labeling (CSFL). In the present research, we define this focal construct and develop and psychometrically validate a seven-item instrument that captures the construct across six studies (N = 1134). The current research may assist in segmenting consumers based on their susceptibility to FOP labeling, thereby facilitating the creation of targeted interventions tailored to this individual difference. Notably, the CSFL scale is positively correlated with consumers' willingness to purchase food items with genuine, third-party FOP labels, but not products lacking labels or products with fictitious FOP labels. This supports the predictive validity of the scale in determining important consumption-related outcomes.

Health-Washing of Ultraprocessed Products on Instagram: Prevalence and Strategies in an Emerging Market.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of health-related cues as part of the digital marketing of ultraprocessed foods on Instagram among food companies in Uruguay. METHODS: Cross-sectional exploratory study. All content posted by 118 Instagram accounts of companies promoting ultraprocessed foods in Uruguay over 6 months (from August 2020 to February 2021) was retrieved. The content of 1,893 Instagram posts was coded considering visual and textual cues conveying health-related associations. The number and percentage of posts, including cues within each category and theme, were calculated. RESULTS: More than half of all posts contained at least 1 visual or textual cue conveying health-related associations. Three main themes emerged: i) product composition, ii) healthy lifestyle, and iii) health and health benefits. The prevalence of health-related cues differed dramatically across product categories, ranging from 100% to 1.5%. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Health-washing constitutes an integral part of the digital marketing of ultraprocessed foods on Instagram in Uruguay. The inclusion of health-related cues can potentially undermine public health efforts targeted at reducing consumption of these foods. These findings suggest that strict and comprehensive regulations on the digital marketing of such products are needed in policies promoting healthy eating habits globally.

Subjective socioeconomic status and income inequality are associated with self-reported morality across 67 countries.

Individuals can experience a lack of economic resources compared to others, which we refer to as subjective experiences of economic scarcity. While such experiences have been shown to shift cognitive focus, attention, and decision-making, their association with human morality remains debated. We conduct a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between subjective experiences of economic scarcity, as indexed by low subjective socioeconomic status at the individual level, and income inequality at the national level, and various self-reported measures linked to morality. In a pre-registered study, we analyze data from a large, cross-national survey (N = 50,396 across 67 countries) allowing us to address limitations related to cross-cultural generalizability and measurement validity in prior research. Our findings demonstrate that low subjective socioeconomic status at the individual level, and income inequality at the national level, are associated with higher levels of moral identity, higher morality-as-cooperation, a larger moral circle, and increased prosocial intentions. These results appear robust to several advanced control analyses. Finally, exploratory analyses indicate that observed income inequality at the national level is not a statistically significant moderator of the associations between subjective socioeconomic status and the included measures of morality. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for understanding human morality under experiences of resource scarcity.

Delicate dining with a date and burger binging with buddies: impression management across social settings and consumers' preferences for masculine or feminine foods.

Consumers often use their food choices as an impression management strategy to signal desirable aspects about themselves to others, especially in public places like restaurants and cafeterias, where the presence of others can promote certain consumption choices and preference patterns. In mating contexts, people prefer gender-typical traits and characteristics in a potential partner. Food options can also be classified according to their gender typicality, with certain alternatives perceived as feminine (e.g., salad, seafood) and with other options perceived as more masculine (e.g., steak, burger). Drawing on impression management theories from the drinking and dining domain and literature on sex differences in human mate preferences, we present a high-powered experiment investigating whether consumers' preferences for masculine or feminine foods depend on the social setting in which the food consumption takes place: dining with an attractive date (mating) or meeting and eating with friends (non-mating). Participants (N = 162, 46.9% females, 53.1% males; age M = 41.8 years, SD = 14.5) were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions (mating vs. non-mating) and were asked to indicate their food preferences for 15 dishes that differed markedly in perceived femininity/masculinity. Consistent with our theorizing, females (males) generally had a stronger preference for foods perceived as more feminine (masculine), thereby supporting the gender-typicality thesis at the aggregate level. Furthermore, females in the mating condition-but not females in the non-mating condition-reported significantly stronger preferences for more feminine food alternatives. However, in direct contrast to our theorizing, males preferred more masculine meals in the non-mating condition (i.e., when dining with friends), whereas this gender-typical tendency did not emerge in the mating condition (i.e., when dining with an attractive date). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and present a set of fruitful avenues for future research.

Siblings, shopping, and sustainability: Birth-order differences in green consumption.

Several studies have examined the role of birth order in shaping human personality, but fewer have tested this variable in relation to other pressing issues. We conducted a birth-order study on green consumption, which enabled us to detect a small-to-moderate effect size equivalent to r = 0.15 or d = 0.30 with sufficient statistical power (N = 335). To capture green consumption, participants indicated their tendency to express the value of environmental protection through purchases and consumption behaviors. Firstborns (vs. laterborns) consistently expressed lower concerns linked to environmental protection in their purchase patterns. While the effect size of this finding was small-to-moderate by conventional standards and in direct contrast to the findings from a recent article on the same topic, these results could still be informative to address challenges associated with climate change considering the number of individuals with siblings in the world and the ease with which birth-order data can be collected.

Naturally green, irrationally lean: How background scenery affects calorie judgments.

Extant research has found that the addition of vegetables to a meal induces a "health halo," thereby lowering the perceived calorie content of the entire dish. We investigated whether environmental stimuli that convey naturalness could trigger such a halo effect. Specifically, we tested whether meals accompanied by a natural, as opposed to an urban, background scenery were estimated to be lower in their calorie content and whether this effect was moderated by the perceived healthiness of the food alternatives. In a mixed (between-within-subjects) design experiment, 200 participants estimated the calorie content and rated the healthiness of 18 complex meals presented against either a natural or an urban background. Our results showed no main effect of the food rating background. However, there was a negative relationship between inferred food healthiness and the estimated calorie content of the meals. In addition, we found a significant interaction between food rating background and inferred healthiness of the evaluated food alternatives. Specifically, when participants evaluated meals against a natural background, they rated relatively unhealthy food alternatives as lower in calories than when they evaluated such alternatives against an urban background. Overall, our results highlight the moderating role of perceived food healthiness in studying the effects of environmental cues on consumers' calorie judgments.

Smaller prize, bigger size? Exploring the impact of money on men's self-reported markers of masculinity.

Bodily markers, often self-reported, are frequently used in research to predict a variety of outcomes. The present study examined whether men, at the aggregate level, would overestimate certain bodily markers linked to masculinity, and if so, to what extent. Furthermore, the study explored whether the amount of monetary rewards distributed to male participants would influence the obtained data quality. Men from two participant pools were asked to self-report a series of bodily measures. All self-report measures except weight were consistently found to be above the population mean (height and penis size) or the scale midpoint (athleticism). Additionally, the participant pool that received the lower (vs. higher) monetary reward showed a particularly powerful deviation from the population mean in penis size and were significantly more likely to report their erect and flaccid penis size to be larger than the claimed but not verified world record of 34 cm. These findings indicate that studies relying on men's self-reported measures of certain body parts should be interpreted with great caution, but that higher monetary rewards seem to improve data quality slightly for such measures.

Qualitative exploration of the reasons for not using nutritional warnings after policy implementation in Uruguay.

Nutritional warnings have gained popularity, particularly in the region of the Americas, to facilitate the identification of products with excessive content of nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases and encourage healthier food choices. Although warnings have been shown to be effective, an in-depth understanding of the reasons why some consumers do not use them is still lacking. The aim of the present work was to explore self-reported use of nutritional warnings and to identify the reasons for not considering nutritional warnings for making food purchase decisions after policy implementation in Uruguay. A non-probabilistic sample of 858 Uruguayan participants was recruited using an advertisement on Facebook and Instagram. Through an online survey, self-reported use of nutritional warnings was asked using a closed-open ended questions. Participants who reported not considering warnings to make their purchase decisions were asked to explain the reasons why using an open-ended question. Responses were analysed using deductive coding, based on the Behavioural Drivers Model. Thirty seven percent of the participants stated that the warnings had not influenced their purchase decisions. Motives for not being influenced by the warnings were related to lack of interest, attitudes, lack of perceived self-efficacy, cognitive biases and limited rationality when making purchase decisions. In addition, structural barriers, such as availability, cost and trust in the food industry also emerged from participants' responses. Strategies to encourage the use of warnings should include communication campaigns and policies to address structural barriers related to the perceived availability and affordability of healthy foods.

The content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products through the lens of the heuristic-systematic model.

Digital marketing has seen a rapid rise in the last decade as a consequence of the increased popularity of social media. However, few studies so far have analyzed the prevalence and persuasive power of digital marketing of ultra-processed products. The present study aimed at: (i) analyzing the content of Instagram posts of ultra-processed products through the lens of the heuristic-systematic model, and (ii) evaluating the influence of the content of the posts on user interactions. A search for Instagram accounts of ultra-processed products was performed using a master list of products commercialized in the two most popular online supermarkets in Uruguay. For each of the identified Instagram accounts, all the content posted in a 6-month period was recorded (August 15th, 2020 to February 15th, 2021). The posts were analyzed using content analysis based on inductive coding, and gradient boosting models (GBMs) were used to address the second study objective. A total of 2178 Instagram posts promoting specific ultra-processed products or brands were identified. The posts included a diverse set of cues to trigger both systematic and heuristic processing. References to the pleasure derived from product consumption as well as health-related cues were most prevalent. The GBM showed that references to contests and raffles and invitations to interact encouraged users to engage with the posts through posting comments. Taken together, results stress the need to implement comprehensive regulatory approaches to reduce exposure to and the power of digital marketing of ultra-processed products given the harmful health-related consequences associated with excessive consumption of such products.

Touch, threats, and transactions: Pandemic influences on consumer responses and the mediating role of touch likelihood when shopping for fruits and vegetables.

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced consumer behavior in numerous ways. Most of the public health measures have centered around minimizing social contact and physical touch. In the present study, we investigate the impact of such touch restrictions, introduced during the pandemic, on consumers' shopping responses and payment preferences in the context of a perishable food category amenable to tactile evaluation (fresh fruits and vegetables). The study used a single-factor between-subjects design (during vs. before the COVID-19 pandemic), with the data collected in a scenario-based online experiment from a sample of 729 participants. The results revealed significantly less favorable shopping responses during (vs. before) the pandemic in terms of purchase likelihood, satisfaction levels, and purchase confidence. Touch likelihood mediated the link between pandemic condition and shopping responses, such that participants in the pandemic condition reported a significantly lower touch likelihood of fresh fruits and vegetables than their counterparts in the pre-pandemic condition, which ultimately resulted in less favorable shopping responses. Participants in the pandemic condition also reported a decreased preference for tangible payment options (cash), with a corresponding increase in preferences for contactless payment methods (credit card or mobile payment). These findings contribute to our understanding of whether and how tactile aspects may influence consumers' shopping responses, offering important implications for retailers and people working in the food industry.

Hiking, indoor biking, and body liking: a cross-sectional study examining the link between physical activity arenas and adults' body appreciation.

BACKGROUND: Body appreciation might serve as a protective factor for developing eating disorders and is associated with participation in physical activity. Less is known about whether various arenas for physical activity may be linked to body appreciation. Therefore, the current study sought to (1) identify potential associations between physical activity level and arenas for physical activity, connectedness with nature, self-compassion, and body appreciation in adults, and (2) explore physical activity level and arenas, connectedness with nature, and self-compassion as explanatory factors for body appreciation. METHODS: A total of 360 adult Norwegian inhabitants (75% women, mean (SD) age 42.58 (12.30) yrs) responded to an online questionnaire. Instruments included the Body Appreciation Scale, the Connectedness with Nature Scale, and the Self-Compassion Scale. RESULTS: The percentage of participants who engaged in various physical activity arenas were 98.5% for nature, 57.5% for fitness centers, and 43.0% for organized sports. Small, positive associations were found between body appreciation and the frequency of using fitness centers and nature as physical activity arenas. Self-compassion, connectedness with nature, and frequency of using fitness centers and nature as physical activity arenas explained 39% of the variance in body appreciation. DISCUSSION: The importance of both fitness centers and nature as arenas for physical activity to explain body appreciation was surprising and might reflect different use of fitness centers among adults compared to younger age groups. CONCLUSION: Physical activity at fitness centers and in nature were positively associated with body appreciation in adults. Self-compassion, connectedness with nature, and using fitness centers and nature as arenas for physical activity, were found to explain variation in body appreciation in adults.

Physical activity helps us feel good about ourselves and appreciate our bodies. However, less is known about the extent to which different arenas for physical activity are related to body appreciation. Therefore, 360 adults from Norway completed a survey with questions about their physical activity level, use of nature, fitness centers, and organized sports as arenas for physical activity, and measures linked to connectedness with nature, self-compassion, and body appreciation. We found an association between body appreciation and performing physical activity at fitness centers and in nature. Physical activity at these two arenas together with self-compassion and connectedness with nature explained body appreciation in these adults. Future studies should focus on the adolescent population, where the level of body appreciation tend to be lower and where organized sports, in addition to fitness centers, constitute an even more commonly used physical activity arena.

'Even if you don't pay attention to it, you know it's there': A qualitative exploration of adolescents' experiences with digital food marketing.

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to digital food marketing. However, research on adolescents' recall, awareness, and opinions of this type of marketing is still scarce. Accordingly, the present study aimed to conduct an in-depth examination of adolescents' experiences with digital food marketing. A convenience sample of 209 adolescents was recruited at two private educational institutions and a public health facility in Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted, recorded in audio and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed using content analysis based on a deductive-inductive approach. Results showed that participants were highly exposed to digital food marketing, as they all remembered having seen advertisements, with those of fast-food restaurants and food-ordering apps being the most frequently mentioned. According to the adolescents' accounts, images, colors, music, oversized portions, product novelty, price promotions and celebrities were the most memorable aspects of food advertisements. Participants recognized the effect of advertisements on product awareness and wanting, and, to a lesser extent, on actual purchase and consumption behavior. Factors that were thought to mediate the impact of digital marketing on food choice were also identified. In the final part of the interviews, participants proposed strategies to reduce the effect of digital marketing on their food choices, which included both regulatory approaches to reduce exposure to digital marketing of unhealthy foods and behavior change communication. Together, the current findings provide insights for the development of multifaceted strategies to reduce the effects of digital food marketing on the eating habits of adolescents.

Can Digit Ratio and Gender Identity Predict Preferences for Consumption Options With a Distinct Gender Image?

This study investigated whether individuals' preferences for masculine (vs. feminine) consumption options could be predicted by a biological sex cue (the 2D:4D digit ratio; a biomarker linked to prenatal testosterone exposure), and a psychological gender cue (self-perceived gender identity). Chinese participants (N = 216) indicated their preferences for a series of binary options that differed in their perceived gender image (e.g., romantic comedy vs. action thriller; pop music vs. hard rock), with one of the options evaluated as relatively more feminine and the other viewed as comparably more masculine. Participants also self-reported their gender identity and the length of their index and ring fingers, which was used to calculate their 2D:4D digit ratios. A low (male-typical) digit ratio and a masculine gender identity were both associated with more masculine preferences, regardless of participants' biological sex. However, a low digit ratio predicted preferences for masculine consumption options only in female participants with a masculine gender identity, but not in those with a feminine gender identity. These findings add to the literature on whether and when biological sex cues and psychological gender cues can predict preferences for options with a distinct gender image and suggest that the connection between these cues is more complex in women than in men.

Selecting the special or choosing the common? A high-powered conceptual replication of Kim and Markus' (1999) pen study.

Kim and Markus (1999; Study 3) found that 74% of European Americans selected a pen with an uncommon (vs. common) color, whereas only 24% of East Asians made such a choice, highlighting a pronounced cross-cultural difference in the extent to which people opt for originality or make majority-based choices. The present high-powered study (N = 729) conceptually replicates the results from Kim and Markus (1999; Study 3), although our effect size (r = .12) is significantly weaker than that of the original study (r = .52). Interestingly, a larger proportion of Chinese, but not US, participants selected a pen with an uncommon color now than during the original study. Thus, our findings indicate a potential transmission of certain Western values to cultures traditionally characterized by collectivism and conformity, likely exacerbated by the globalization of mass media and the rapid economic growth in many East Asian countries.

The perception of food products in adolescents, lay adults, and experts: A psychometric approach.

Almost 40% of global mortality is attributable to an unhealthy diet, and adolescents and young adults are particularly affected by growing obesity rates. How do (young) people conceptualize and judge the healthiness of foods and how are the judgments embedded in people's mental representations of the food ecology? We asked respondents to rate a large range of common food products on a diverse set of characteristics and then applied the psychometric paradigm to identify the dimensions structuring people's mental representations of the foods. Respondents were also asked to rate each food in terms of its healthiness, and we used the foods' scores on the extracted dimensions to predict the healthiness judgments. We compared three groups of respondents: adolescents, lay adults, and nutrition experts. Naturalness levels (e.g., processing, artificial additives) and cholesterol and protein content emerged as the two central dimensions structuring respondents' mental representations of the foods. Relative to the other two groups, the adolescents' representations were less differentiated. Judged food healthiness was determined by multiple factors, but naturalness was the strongest predictor across all groups. Overall, the adolescents' responses showed considerable heterogeneity, suggesting a lack of solid food knowledge and the need for tailored nutrition education on specific food products and content characteristics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Populated Places and Conspicuous Consumption: High Population Density Cues Predict Consumers' Luxury-Linked Brand Attitudes.

Population density has been identified as an ecological factor with considerable behavioral implications. The present research aimed to examine whether the mere perception of more (vs. less) populated places can change consumers' luxury-linked brand attitudes. To this end, we experimentally manipulated consumers' perceptions of population density using pictorial exposure to high (vs. low) population density cues. The results revealed a significant interaction between manipulated population density and perceived brand luxury on brand attitudes. Specifically, exposure to high rather than low population density cues resulted in more positive (negative) attitudes toward brands deemed to be more (less) luxurious. These findings support our prediction that high population density cues can shift people's perceptions in consumption contexts linked to luxury. Our work contributes to the growing stream of literature on population density and suggests that this (geo-) demographic factor can exert important downstream effects on consumer behavior.

Drivers and social implications of Artificial Intelligence adoption in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact people worldwide-steadily depleting scarce resources in healthcare. Medical Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises a much-needed relief but only if the technology gets adopted at scale. The present research investigates people's intention to adopt medical AI as well as the drivers of this adoption in a representative study of two European countries (Denmark and France, N = 1068) during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results reveal AI aversion; only 1 of 10 individuals choose medical AI over human physicians in a hypothetical triage-phase of COVID-19 pre-hospital entrance. Key predictors of medical AI adoption are people's trust in medical AI and, to a lesser extent, the trait of open-mindedness. More importantly, our results reveal that mistrust and perceived uniqueness neglect from human physicians, as well as a lack of social belonging significantly increase people's medical AI adoption. These results suggest that for medical AI to be widely adopted, people may need to express less confidence in human physicians and to even feel disconnected from humanity. We discuss the social implications of these findings and propose that successful medical AI adoption policy should focus on trust building measures-without eroding trust in human physicians.