Effects of subtle and explicit health messages on food choice

The prevalence of obesity in the United States is increasing (Ogden & Carroll, 2010), and researchers have investigated many ways to reduce it, from including nutrition information on menus to changing the food offerings in schools. Many of the new front-of-package labels being formalized by the Food and Drug Administration (e.g., calories per serving and grams of fat) are similar to those currently used on the backs of packages with mixed success. In one study, for example, participants averaged only 69% correct on a comprehension test of the information on food labels they were shown (Rothman et al., 2006). If these labels are ineffective because people find them difficult to understand, then a less complicated label may be more effective at leading to healthy choices. One possible strategy is to forgo the complicated numerical information and to explicitly and overtly label healthy foods as ‘healthy.’ There are several reasons, however, why calling a food healthy may backfire. First, when food is described as healthy, people have been shown to rate it as less tasty and report enjoying it less (Raghunathan et al., 2006). Second, the mere presence of a healthy option on a menu can lead individuals to believe they have fulfilled their health goal (referred to as a “health halo effect;” Wilcox, Vallen, Block, & Fitzsimons, 2009), which itself can lead to goal violations by making that goal less accessible (Finkelstein & Fishbach, 2010). Believing that the health goal has been fulfilled can also lead to individuals feeling ‘licensed’ to indulge (Chiou, Yang, & Wan, 2011; see also Wilde, 1982). This may be why people are more likely to choose an unhealthy side dish when they are given a healthy main course (Chandon & Wansink, 2007). A third reason explicit health labels may backfire is by causing reactance–threatening people’s feeling that they are free to do what they wish–thereby leading them to do the opposite (Brehm, 1966). When the high fat content in cream cheese was presented as a warning label, participants reported a stronger desire to taste it than did participants who read the same information but not presented as a warning (Bushman, 1998). Individuals may have perceived the warning as a threat to their freedom. One potentially useful strategy to promote healthy eating may be to subtly, rather than explicitly, indicate the healthfulness of a food. By not explicitly drawing attention to the healthfulness of a food, subtle health messages, such as healthy images rather than words, might avoid several of the pitfalls associated with explicit messages. First, a more subtle health message may not cause people to believe they have fulfilled their health goal, so they may not feel licensed to indulge, and the health goal would remain accessible (Finkelstein & Fishbach, 2010). Second, a subtle health message may be less likely to be perceived as a command to behave in a certain way and therefore be less likely to cause reactance. There is limited research on the effects of subtle health labels, and to our knowledge, no studies have looked at the effects of subtle health messages on actual behavior. One study examined the role of color on health messages, and found that participants rated a green calorie label as healthier than a red one (Schuldt, 2013). Another study found that participants exposed to a health image (a red heart with a white check-mark on it) on a menu item reported stronger intentions to purchase that item than participants who were not shown that image (Kozup, Creyer, & Burton, 2003). However, they did not include an explicit health message, so we cannot compare the subtle health image to an explicit health message. In the present studies, we sought to compare the effects of subtle and explicit health messages on individuals’ real life food choices. In two field studies, adults were observed as they selected from labeled baskets of healthy and indulgent snacks. We manipulated the health messages on the snacks and unobtrusively recorded which items individuals took. We hypothesized that subtle—but not explicit—health messages would be effective in leading to healthy choices, compared to a neutral control message.