Regional differences in portion size consumption behaviour: Insights for the global food industry

Abstract: Given the influence of globalization on consumer food behaviour across the world, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theoretical discourse around food portion size as a global consumption-related symbol and its underlying socio-economic drivers for food industry strategy. Overall, 25,000 global food consumers were surveyed across 24 countries to elicit insight on portion size consumption behaviour as well as consumer perception on eating and drinking small portion size within selected socio-economic classes. The data was quantitatively analysed to answer the pertinent research objectives. In 20 out of the 24 global markets surveyed, large food portion size was statistically established as a prevalent consumption-related symbol. The paper found that there are regional differences in portion size food consumption behaviour, and further disparities exist across age, gender and income status in 24 countries covering all regions, including Australia, China, Mexico, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America. The outlined food industry implications reveal that adaptation and standardisation strategies are still relevant in global food and nutrition strategy as revealed by the variations in the preference for food portion sizes across various countries of the world

Do Violent Social Cause Advertisements Promote Social Change? An Examination of Implicit Associations

Violent content is used in social cause advertising campaigns as a means of discouraging antisocial attitudes and behaviors, despite the fact that findings regarding the effectiveness of including violence in advertisements are equivocal. The present research explores the efficacy of violent advertisements by investigating how such ads affect implicit associations with violent words/acts. The importance of implicit associations is that they can affect judgments and behaviors long after explicit memory for the advertisement has decayed. The findings of the research point to the prevalence of individual differences in response to violent ads. Specifically, social cause advertisements are effective in weakening implicit associations with violence for nonaggressive individuals, as would be desired. However, these campaigns strengthen implicit associations for aggressive individuals. Ameliorating their aggressive associations would be advantageous both to the individual and society; however, the results suggest such advertisements make matters worse. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Parsing out the effects of personal consumption norms and industry influences on food consumption volume

© 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test whether individuals possess personal consumption norms and idiosyncratic reference points to which they target behaviour. These personal consumption norms are related to the amount of food consumed independent of industry influences, specifically the size of the package offered and the perceived healthiness of the food. We also examine the extent to which one’s commitment to adhere to their personal consumption norm (referred to as “commitment to norm”) influences food consumption volume. Design/methodology/approach: Three experiments are presented, two involve estimates of food consumption and the third examines actual food consumption. Findings: All studies demonstrate that participants can provide a personal consumption norm for how much food they would typically consume that is independent of manipulated industry influences and that actual consumption is significantly related to their personal consumption norms. Furthermore, commitment to norm is negatively related to the absolute difference between their personal consumption norm and the amount of food consumed; however, supporting evidence was only realized in the case of actual food consumption, suggesting that commitment to norm does not have an effect on the formation of intentions. Research limitations/implications: The authors demonstrate that at a point in time, personal norms are fixed. However, it is possible that norms may be shaped by industry influences over time. The authors suggest further research into how these personal norms evolve over time, as well as assessing how these norms affect the likelihood of going from zero consumption to some positive amount. Practical implications: Many studies indicate that marketers can easily influence food consumption volume. However, their ability to influence actual consumption volume is circumscribed by factors beyond their control, namely idiosyncratic personal consumption norms. Social implications: Over time, it is likely that personal consumption norms have emanated from a variety of antecedents, almost certainly including prior industry experience and situational/social influences. Repeated exposure to external influences is likely to shift the personal norm reference point over time. Originality/value: Personal consumption norms are carefully disentangled from industry influences and are shown to significantly relate to food consumption volume, independent (but not to the exclusion) of industry influences