title: Responsiveness to healthy advertisements in adults: An experiment assessing beyond brand snack selection and the impact of restrained eating.
abstract: The objective of this study was to explore the impact of different advertising messages on adults' snack choice. Eighty participants (18-24 years old) were offered the choice between two snack packs following exposure to one of three advertising conditions. The snack packs contained either healthy or high fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) foods. Participants were exposed to commercials containing either non-food products, healthy food products or HFSS food products and their subsequent choice of snack pack was recorded. The Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) was used to assess the impact of external, restrained and emotional eating behaviour on snack pack selection following exposure to advertisements. The majority of unrestrained participants preferentially choose the HFSS snack pack irrespective of advertisement condition. In contrast, high restrained individuals exposed to the healthy eating advertisement condition preferentially selected the healthy snack pack while those in other advertisement conditions refused to take either snack pack. The healthy eating message, when distributed through mass media, resonated with restrained eaters only. Exposure to healthy food adverts provoked restrained eaters into choosing a snack pack; while exposure to other messages results in restrained eaters refusing to take any foods.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment, Health & Societies, Department of Life Sciences, Marie Jahoda Building, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom. Electronic address: terence.dovey@brunel.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Terence M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Dovey
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment, Health & Societies, Department of Life Sciences, Marie Jahoda Building, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Torab
authors.affiliation: Brunel Business School, College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, Eastern Gateway, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Dorothy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Boyland
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jason C G
authors.initials: JCG
authors.lastname: Halford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004032:Diet; D004644:Emotions; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D062410:Snacks; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Advertising; Food choice; Healthy eating; Restraint