An investigation of influencer body enhancement and brand endorsement

Purpose: As the cosmetic surgery industry grows and diversifies, societal beauty standards have shifted to include images of surgically enhanced bodies. With the increased use of influencer marketing, it is important for marketers to understand consumer perceptions of these modified appearances. This research uses the lens of perceived morality to investigate consumer perceptions of cosmetic surgery services and the effect of enhanced body appearance on consumer interest in an endorsed brand. Interpersonal similarity is tested as a boundary condition. Design/Methodology/Approach: A mixed-methods approach was taken with a qualitative study and two online experiments. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling (NStudy 1 = 133) and Amazon Mechanical Turk (NStudy 2 = 202; NStudy 3 = 270). Findings: The themes uncovered in the qualitative study revealed that cosmetic surgery services were acceptable when internally motivated but may signal inauthenticity. The findings of Study 2 suggested consumer interest in an endorsed brand was negatively impacted by body enhancement, with perceived morality as the underlying mechanism. Study 3 results demonstrated interpersonal similarity moderated this effect. The indirect effect was significant only for those low in interpersonal similarity. Originality: This research contributes to the underexplored area of cosmetic surgery services and its role in influencer marketing. The findings extend the literature on consumer attitudes and perceptions towards these services and provides insight into the intersection of body enhancement and morality. The contribution is notable since marketers increasing rely on social media influencers, many of whom have undergone cosmetic surgery services and enhanced their body appearance, to promote their brands

The Influence of Ambient Scent Temperature on Food Consumption Behavior

This research examines the impact of ambient odor on food consumption. The results of a field experiment and five lab experiments show that the presence of a warm ambient odor (e.g., cedarwood) versus a cool ambient odor (e.g., eucalyptus) reduces the amount of calories consumed and also leads to increased choice of lower-calorie food options. This is due to established implicit associations formed from the human body’s innate physiological response to changes in ambient temperature. Specifically, exposure to a warm (vs. cool) ambient odor, influences perceived ambient temperature, which in turn alters food consumption behaviors. The results of this research extend the limited research examining the temperature dimension of odor and enhance the understanding of the role of sensory cues in influencing food consumption. Further, given calorie consumption’s link to widespread obesity worldwide, this research provides important implications for health and wellbeing

Can, Cup, or Bottle? The Influence of Service Vessel on Consumer Perceptions of Taste and Willingness to Pay

This study examines the influence of beverage service vessel on taste evaluations and willingness to pay through two experiments, each with four conditions: an aluminum can, a glass cup, a plastic cup, and a glass bottle. Study 1, a virtual scenario-based design with 141 participants, showed that taste expectations and willingness to pay were lowest for the beverage served in the aluminum can and that taste expectations mediated the effect of beverage vessel on willingness to pay. Study 2, a lab-based experiment with 82 participants, assessed taste perceptions and willingness to pay. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 in a live context with real consumption, extending the findings from expectations to actual perceptions. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed

Preparation (mis)perception: Effects of involvement on food attributes and desirability

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of involvement in food preparation on estimated calorie content, perception of portion size, and desirability of the food item. Design/Methodology/Approach: To test the hypotheses, three between-subjects experiments (one online, two in a laboratory setting) were conducted. Across the three experiments, participants were presented with a food item either ready for consumption (low involvement) or with the individual ingredients in need of assembly prior to consumption (high involvement). Findings: Results showed that when a consumer is involved in the preparation of their food, they perceive the food to be lower in calories and smaller in portion size than when the same food is presented fully prepared and ready-to-eat. In addition, the effect of food preparation involvement on perception of portion size has negative downstream consequences on food desirability, as a smaller perceived portion resulted in a less desirable food item. Originality/Value: To the authors knowledge, the results of this research are the first to focus on the impact of preparation involvement on perceptions of the specific product attributes of calorie content and portion size, and the downstream effect on desirability

The Unintended Effects of Tamper-Evident Packaging

Third-party food delivery (TPFD) services such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub introduces increased opportunities for contamination through the introduction of unknown variables between the restaurant and consumer. Across two studies, we examine the effect of tamper-evident food packaging closures in a TPFD context, revealing a negative effect of a tamper-evident seal on willingness to pay through decreased satisfaction. This negative effect is robust across both food and beverages. Finally, consumers’ perception of risk of illness (PRI) from TPFD moderates this effect

What am I tipping you for? Customer response to tipping requests at limited-service restaurants

Tipping within the foodservice industry has traditionally been reserved for full-service restaurants. However, there is a growing trend of tip requests at limited-service restaurants, where tipping occurs prior to consuming the product. This research aims to examine the effect of a point-of-sale tip request at limited-service restaurants on return intentions via customer irritation. It also aims to analyze the moderating effects of check amount and perceived deservingness

The unintended effects of tamper-evident food closures

Restaurant-to-consumer food delivery has experienced disruption with the growth of third-party services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats. However, this platform-to-consumer delivery method introduces increased opportunities for food tampering and contamination due to additional touchpoints in the delivery process. To mitigate these concerns, more restaurants are implementing tamper-evident closures such as seals attached to the food containers used for delivery items. Drawing on signaling theory, we examine the effect of tamper-evident closures in the third-party delivery context through two experimental studies and a focus group. Our results revealed a negative effect of tamper-evident seals on willingness to pay through lowered food quality evaluations, suggesting the seal sends contamination signals rather than the intended message of food safety. This negative effect appears robust for both food and beverages. We also demonstrate that consumers’ food safety risk perception (FSRP) acts as a boundary condition, attenuating the negative indirect effect for high-FSRP consumers

Less Light, Better Bite: How Ambient Lighting Influences Taste Perceptions

Atmospheric factors within a retail environment provide efficient and effective methods for influencing customer behavior. Drawing on the concept of sensory compensation, this research investigates how ambient lighting influences taste perceptions. Three studies demonstrate that dim lighting enhances taste perceptions. The results of Studies 1a and 1b provide support that low lighting positively influences consumers\u27 perceived taste of single taste dimension foods (e.g., sweet). Study 2 shows the number of taste dimensions (e.g., sweet vs. sweet and salty) stimulated serves as a boundary condition, attenuating the significant effect of dim lighting on taste perceptions

The Effects of Guilt and Sadness on Sugar Consumption

This research examines how the discrete negative emotions of guilt and sadness impact individual preference for carbohydrates, specifically in the form of sugar. Using Cognitive Appraisal Theory and research in biological psychology, we identify how these two discrete emotions influence the release of cortisol, which impacts sugar preferences. The results of four studies indicate that consumers select and prepare foods with higher amounts of sugar when experiencing sadness relative to when they feel guilt. Implications for public policy as well as marketing practitioners are discussed

Construction of a potato consensus map and QTL meta-analysis offer new insights into the genetic architecture of late blight resistance and plant maturity traits

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Integrating QTL results from independent experiments performed on related species helps to survey the genetic diversity of loci/alleles underlying complex traits, and to highlight potential targets for breeding or QTL cloning. Potato (<it>Solanum tuberosum </it>L.) late blight resistance has been thoroughly studied, generating mapping data for many Rpi-genes (R-genes to <it>Phytophthora infestans</it>) and QTLs (quantitative trait loci). Moreover, late blight resistance was often associated with plant maturity. To get insight into the genomic organization of late blight resistance loci as compared to maturity QTLs, a QTL meta-analysis was performed for both traits.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nineteen QTL publications for late blight resistance were considered, seven of them reported maturity QTLs. Twenty-one QTL maps and eight reference maps were compiled to construct a 2,141-marker consensus map on which QTLs were projected and clustered into meta-QTLs. The whole-genome QTL meta-analysis reduced by six-fold late blight resistance QTLs (by clustering 144 QTLs into 24 meta-QTLs), by <it>ca</it>. five-fold maturity QTLs (by clustering 42 QTLs into eight meta-QTLs), and by <it>ca</it>. two-fold QTL confidence interval mean. Late blight resistance meta-QTLs were observed on every chromosome and maturity meta-QTLs on only six chromosomes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Meta-analysis helped to refine the genomic regions of interest frequently described, and provided the closest flanking markers. Meta-QTLs of late blight resistance and maturity juxtaposed along chromosomes IV, V and VIII, and overlapped on chromosomes VI and XI. The distribution of late blight resistance meta-QTLs is significantly independent from those of Rpi-genes, resistance gene analogs and defence-related loci. The anchorage of meta-QTLs to the potato genome sequence, recently publicly released, will especially improve the candidate gene selection to determine the genes underlying meta-QTLs. All mapping data are available from the Sol Genomics Network (SGN) database.</p