Looking beyond health halos: exploring the impact of salience and goal activation on the perception of sugary beverages and related behavioural outcomes

The present study responds to calls in the literature to explore the role of salience and goal activation in food choices by investigating the impact of these concepts on perceptions of fruit juices and related behavioural outcomes. Fruit juice is chosen as the context of the research as it is considered healthy, despite high sugar content. The presence of fruit in the beverage makes the beverage appear healthy, thus attributing a health halo to the product. This health halo effect often leads consumers to make misinformed choices. As such, a key contribution to the literature includes a novel approach to understanding the effects of interactions between salient sugar information and activated goals on health perception and appeal of the beverages. The finding suggests that consumers perceive sugar information on labels differently based on the activated goals at the given moment. Adapting aspects of salience and goal activation, the study employs an online experiment to prime consumers into specific groups (high/low salience and enjoyment/responsibility/self/other goals) and measures the effects of these manipulations on the perception of beverages. A number of behavioural outcomes are also measured. The findings demonstrate first, that salient sugar labels are effective in making consumers look beyond health halos of sugary beverages. Second, particularly strong links between salience and responsibility motivation show that salient sugar information is perceived more strongly (sugary product is considered unhealthier) when consumers are primed for responsibility, both in the context of significant others and themselves. Third, the link between salience and enjoyment is a counterintuitive finding, suggesting that sugar information is perceived differently (sugary product is considered healthier) when consumers are primed to think of enjoyment in the context of significant others rather than enjoyment in the context of oneself. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to test a novel approach that makes consumers look beyond health halos of beverages, in order to encourage healthy behaviour. The combined presentation of salience as well as enjoyment/responsibility/self/other goal activation in the context of sugary beverages, along with the development of a new ERSO (Enjoyment Responsibility Self Other) scale provides an original contribution to both theory and practice

Visible sugar: salient sugar information impacts health perception of fruit juices but only when motivated to be responsible and not when motivated to enjoy

The present study explores when consumers recognize the high sugar content of fruit juice and refrain from choosing it for themselves or their families. Fruit juice may be typically perceived as a healthy drink, despite its often high sugar content. We investigate the role of salience of sugar information and enjoyment and responsibility goals in perception and choice of fruit juices. We argue that sugar information needs to be salient to prevent this health halo effect, but that consumers also need to be in a motivational state that promotes processing of this information. In three experiments (N = 801), we manipulate the salience of the sugar content using a salient sugar label (or no explicit sugar label) as well as the activation of different goals (to enjoy versus to be responsible, in the context of choices for self versus significant others). Utilising a newly designed fictitious juice brand, salient sugar labels are effective in significantly raising awareness of sugar content in study 1. Consumers primed for responsibility consider fruit juice with salient sugar information unhealthier as compared to those primed for enjoyment in study 2. Further, in study 3, parents primed for responsibility perceive fruit juice with salient sugar information as unhealthier and less appealing in comparison to parents primed for enjoyment. The effects of responsibility and enjoyment primes on health perceptions are stronger when people think of responsibility or enjoyment of food in the context of their families rather than themselves. We discuss implications for theorizing, beverage marketing, and public policy

Palynostratigraphy and palynofacies of the early Eocene Gurha lignite mine, Rajasthan, India

A 105 m early Eocene section exposed in the Gurha mine in the Nagaur-Ganganagar Basin, Rajasthan, India, archiving remains of equatorial vegetation at a time of extreme global warmth and close to the onset of the India-Eurasia collision, is investigated using palynostratigraphic and palynofacies analyses. Four palynozones e.g., Palmidites plicatus Singh, Botryococcus braunii Kützing, Triangulorites bellus Kar and Ovoidites ligneolus are identified stratigraphically on the basis of abundance of these pollen taxa over others. The occurrence of taxonomically highly diverse angiosperm pollen in all the four palynozones attests to an extremely rich near-coastal tropical flora subject to frequent wildfires under a strongly seasonal precipitation regime. Palynotaxa characteristic of these palynozones are widely distributed in other early Paleogene sediments of India. Sedimentary organic matter (structured terrestrial, biodegraded, amorphous, grey amorphous, resins, charcoal/black-brown debris and algal remains) recovered from mire and lacustrine sediments are of terrestrial origin, recording fluctuations in burial anoxia and salinity. Episodes of elevated salinity are due either to seepage of marine waters and/or a periodic excess of evaporation over precipitation at times when the depositional system was closed

A mixed-methods approach to understanding barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and exercise from five European countries: highlighting the roles of enjoyment, emotion and social engagement

Healthy adults are consistently falling below national and international recommendations for physical activity and dietary intake across Europe. This study took a co-creative approach with adult samples from five European countries to qualitatively and quantitatively establish motivators, barriers and sustaining factors for positive health behaviour change. Stage 1 delivered a newly-designed online programme, creating a community who identified challenges, motivators and solutions to sustaining positive healthy eating and physical activity behaviours. Stage 2 administered an online survey (developed from Stage 1 findings) to a larger sample to quantify the relative importance of these motivators and barriers. Results from both stages indicated enjoyment, positive emotions, and reward as key motivators for both behaviours across all five countries. Barriers included habit-breaking difficulties, temptation and negative affective states. Those with a high BMI placed more importance on social pressure than those with healthy BMI. Participants’ reports of motivators and barriers reflected relevant approaches from consumer science, behavioural economics, and psychology. Interventions supporting adults who are not chronically ill but would benefit from improved diet and/or physical activity should not focus exclusively on health as a motivating factor. Emphasis on enjoyable behaviours, social engagement and reward will likely improve engagement and sustained behaviour change

A mixed-methods approach to understanding barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and exercise from five European countries: Combining consumer science, behavioural economics, and psychology

Background: Healthy adults are consistently falling below national and international recommendations for physical activity and dietary intake across Europe. Interventions to address behaviour change in these fields typically target clinically at-risk individuals. To inform the development of interventions targeting healthy individuals, this study took a co-creative approach with samples of adults from five European countries to qualitatively and quantitively establish motivators, barriers and sustaining factors for positive physical activity and healthy eating behaviour change. Methods: Stage 1 involved a newly-designed online programme that was used to create an online community who identified challenges, motivators and solutions to sustaining positive health behaviours over two weeks. Stage 2 comprised an online survey, developed from the ideas produced in Stage 1, administered to a larger sample to quantify the relative importance of the motivators and barriers discussed. Results: Results from both stages indicated that enjoyment of health behaviours, positive emotions before and after activities, and installing rewards were key motivators for both behaviours across all five countries. Barriers included difficulties with habit-breaking, giving in to temptation and negative affective states. Participants reported that changes in physical activity and eating behaviour complemented one another. Those with a high BMI placed more importance on social motivators (e.g. social pressure) than those with healthy BMI. Participants’ reports of motivating factors and barriers often reflected relevant approaches from consumer science, behavioural economics, or psychology. Conclusions: Interventions to support adults who are not chronically ill but who would benefit from improved diet and/or increased physical activity should not focus exclusively on health as a motivating factor. Emphasis on enjoyable behaviours, social engagement and the role of reward will likely improve engagement and sustained behaviour change. Our data call for the integration of different fields in the behaviour change literature that would allow a stronger emphasis on motivational and emotional processes

Unveiling consumer preferences and intentions for co-created features of a combined diet and physical activity app: a cross-sectional study in four European countries

Background: Numerous mobile health apps are marketed globally with specific features including physical activity tracking, motivational feedback and recipe provision. It is important to understand which features individuals prefer and whether these preferences differ between consumer groups. Objectives: First, to identify consumers’ most preferred features and rewards for a mobile app targeting healthy eating and physical activity. Second, to reduce numerous individual mobile health app features to a smaller number of key categories as perceived by consumers. Third, to investigate the impact of differences in consumers’ BMI, and self-efficacy on intention to use and willingness to pay for such an app. Finally, to identify characteristics of different target groups of consumers and their responses towards app features via cluster analysis. Methods: 212 participants from France, Italy, the UK, and Germany were recruited online to answer questions about app features, motivation, self-efficacy, demographic, and geographic factors. It is important to note that our study includes an evenly distributed sample of people in the age ranges 23-50 (23 to 35 and 35 to 50). The app features in question had been generated from a fourteen-day co-creation session by a group of consumers from the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Results: ‘Home workout suggestions’, ‘exercise tips’ and ‘progress charts’ were the most preferred app features, while ‘gift vouchers’ and ‘shopping discounts’ were the most preferred rewards. ‘Connections with other communication apps’ was the least preferred feature and ‘charitable giving’ was the least preferred reward. Importantly, consumers’ positive attitude toward the ‘social support and connectedness and mindfulness’ app feature predicted willingness to pay for such an app (β= .229, p = .004). Differences in consumers’ health status, motivational factors, and basic demographics moderated these results and consumers’ intention to use and willingness to pay for such an app. Notably, younger and motivated consumers with more experience and knowledge about health apps indicated more positive attitudes and intention to use and willingness to pay for this type of app. Conclusions: The present study indicates that consumers tend to prefer app features which are activity-based and demonstrate progress. It also suggests a potential role for monetary reward to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours. Moreover, the results highlight the role of consumers’ health status, motivational factors, and SES in predicting app usage. These results provide up-to-date, practical, and pragmatic information for the future design and operation of mobile health apps