It makes me happy: anthropomorphism increases consumer preference for healthy food

Abstract

Purpose

People frequently experience a conflict between immediate pleasure and long-term health when consuming healthy food. This study investigates how anthropomorphizing healthy food influences consumers’ sense of pleasure and their subsequent food preferences.

Design/methodology/approach

Using different samples and food items, the authors conducted five online or laboratory studies to provide empirical support for the research hypothesis, rule out potential alternative explanations, and demonstrate boundary conditions.

Findings

By conducting five empirical studies involving self-reported and actual eating preferences, this study found that anthropomorphism increases consumer preference for and actual intake of healthy food. Such an anthropomorphism effect is driven by the increased positive affect evoked by anthropomorphism. However, this positive effect is suppressed for consumers who experience low trust in their affective feelings. Additionally, the effect is weakened when consumers readily attribute their affective feelings to a target-irrelevant source.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on healthy consumption, anthropomorphism, and mood, revealing whether and how food anthropomorphism affects consumers. For marketers in the field of healthy food and relevant policymakers, anthropomorphic means can be employed, such as giving products human names, to enhance consumer preference for them. Moreover, anthropomorphizing can help alleviate consumers’ concerns about the relative lack of pleasurable taste in healthy foods and compensate for the lack of hedonic value that consumers may feel, thereby enhancing consumer welfare.

Highlights

1. Anthropomorphism increases consumer preference for healthy food and actual intake of it.

2. The anthropomorphism effect is driven by the increased positive affect evoked by anthropomorphism, through which affective feelings offer evaluative and decisional informativeness for judgments and decision-making.

3. The positive effect of anthropomorphism is suppressed for consumers who experience low trust in their affective feelings.

4. The anthropomorphism effect is weakened when consumers readily attribute their affective feelings to a target-irrelevant source.

Citation

Zhao, Y., Zhou, S. and Kang, Q. (2024), "It makes me happy: anthropomorphism increases consumer preference for healthy food", British Food Journal, Vol. 126 No. 10, pp. 3605-3623. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-12-2023-1078