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Do extra ingredients on the package lead to extra calorie estimates?

Guowei Zhu (Business School, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, China)
George Chryssochoidis (Kent Business School, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, UK)
Li Zhou (Business School, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, China)

European Journal of Marketing

ISSN: 0309-0566

Article publication date: 28 June 2019

Issue publication date: 20 September 2019

787

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to address how adding food ingredients to a packaged base food affects consumers’ calorie estimation of the new augmented product.

Design/methodology/approach

The four performed experiments and analyses of variance demonstrate an underlying psychological mechanism, explained below.

Findings

Results show that the healthiness of the added food ingredient (AFI) does not matter if the base food is healthy, and consumers’ calorie estimates of the augmented packaged food product are accurate. When, however, the food base is unhealthy, and the AFI is healthy, consumers underestimate the new product calories. This underestimation effect increases further when the healthy ingredients multiply. This underestimation effect endures when these ingredients are presented in a visual form, but it becomes smaller when these ingredients are presented in a verbal form. A justification mechanism is relevant.

Research limitations/implications

Further research should test across the broader range of the food product matrix. There is a great diversity of AFI presentations, and further research may deal with the impact of AFIs of these different forms on consumers’ calorie estimation and healthiness perceptions. Research may also test sensory-arousing mechanisms that can help understand how consumers perceive the calories of the augmented food.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that consumers should be cautious of the judgment bias caused by the presence of an AFI on food packages and raise their awareness regarding nutrition implications and dietary effects. From the perspective of food manufacturers, although adding healthy AFIs to unhealthy base foods may increase consumers’ purchase intention and bring higher profits, it may not be sustainable as a marketing strategy in the long term and has immediate ethical implications.

Social implications

Policymakers should introduce voluntary schemes to monitor and restrict the improper presentation of AFIs, aiming to rule out the abuse of healthy AFIs on unhealthy packaged food.

Originality/value

This work offers three major original and valuable contributions. It explains the effects of AFIs on calorie estimation and consumer healthiness perceptions in a context not studied before, namely, packaged food products. Next, it advances the literature on consumer judgment error and heuristics concerning product package attributes. As adding ingredients is integral to product line extension decisions, the results also clarify how marketing can safeguard firm social responsibility in combating obesity.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71871089), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (2018M642979), and the Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of Hunan Province of China (2018343).

Citation

Zhu, G., Chryssochoidis, G. and Zhou, L. (2019), "Do extra ingredients on the package lead to extra calorie estimates?", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 53 No. 11, pp. 2293-2321. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-11-2017-0856

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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