The Context:
An unhealthy diet can lead to disease. There is a large body of evidence linking poor diet to overweight and obesity as well as cancer and diabetes. Standard approaches to overweight and obesity reduction have assumed that individuals’ food related behaviour is carried out via rational decision making process ( Just & Payne, 2009) . However, inter-disciplinary research in behavioural theory and food choice indicates that people do not behave in a rational manner, and that environment plays a major role in influencing the choice of a person (Stewart Palmer, 2012). Nudge theory offers a means by which we can attempt to influence the food choice of the individual by making changes in the choice architecture of the offering. I have
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The authors divided the subjects into two experimental conditions both groups had access to the same set of songs, but in the experimental condition, members could see how many times each song had been downloaded (Ibid.) In this experiment, what participants didn’t know was that researchers had in fact rigged the experiment, making up the download figures for the participants in the experimental condition. They discovered that participants in the experimental condition were nudged into downloading a song because they looked towards how many downloads each song had received in order to make a quick judgement regarding the quality of a song. In light of the above, I wish to implement a form of product liking system in-store for healthy dietary alternatives. Consumer Liking, is an interactive voting display system to be placed under certain healthy products that will allow shoppers to ‘like’ a healthy product. Based on the above research, such a nudge in-store might actually lead to more purchases of a product. I wish to inflate the numbers for the healthy dietary choices and nudge the buyers to use the product.
Experiment
Research Question: Does the customer prefer a healthy dietary alternative when nudged by the display of inflated likes in the voting display
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Remaining all other factors being same with respect to both the conditions, the increase in the preference in the choice of dietary alternative is attributed to nudge in the form of inflated ‘likes’. The sale of healthy dietary soft drink and its normal variant are the dependent variables and the effect of independent variables (Control Condition or Test Condition) on the dependent variables is studied. The experiment has the construct validly because it tries to measure the sales of healthy dietary softdrink and its normal alternative to make claims about the effectiveness of the nudging intervention. Since, we study the effect of social influence induced by inflated ‘likes’ on the preferences of the customer, the results can be applied to situations outside the context of experiment. Thus, the experiment has external
Michael Moss does a wonderful job describing the sciences junk food companies use to get us to buy their products in his article “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”. First Moss uses solid facts to describe how junk food companies make their food sell. Secondly he proves that he is very knowledgable about the topic of his article, and that he conducted intensive research and interviews to gain the knowledge. Lastly Moss does a good job of making the article interesting by doing things such as providing facts, dialogue, and questions to keep your attention. Moss’ use of solid facts help describe and give the reader insight on the extremes of what junk food companies will go through to sell and make their products desirable.
In Michael Pollan’s essay “Escape from the Western Diet,” he directly to Americans about the western diet and why he believes they need to escape from it. The reason Americans should escape the western diet is to avoid the harmful effects associated with it such as “western diseases” (Pollan, 420). To support his view on the issue, Pollan describes factors of the western diet that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. These factors include scientists with their theories of nutritionist, the food industry supporting the theories by making products, and the health industry making medication to support those same theories. Overall, Pollan feels that in order to escape this diet, people need to get the idea of it out of their heads.
In her article “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of eating,” Sociologist Mary Maxfield claims that food is neither moral nor immoral, therefore, everyone can eat whatever they desire. Maxfield feels that everyone should trust their body and allow their mind to decide on what our body needs intake. On a daily basis our body needs the proper nutrients to function. But too much or too little nutrients can cause many illnesses or other problems that can be harmful and damaging to our body. However, Maxfield ignores the fact that eating whatever we want we may suffer the consequences of negative side effects.
This appeals to our physiological needs because naturally, humans need to eat food and to hear from a professional that there are other influences outside of food that are giving cause to the obesity crisis gives Americans a slight sigh of relief when it comes to the degree of toxicity of our foods. Furthermore, that people eat a more wholesome diet versus those that do not, tend to be healthier than that live on fast and processed foods,there are also stark differences to recognize between these classes that should be taken into account as well such as the tendency to engage in exercise, air quality, and other health considerations such as smoking and
Relevance between Food and Humans with Rhetorical Analysis In the modern industrial society, being aware of what the food we eat come from is an essential step of preventing the “national eating disorder”. In Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, he identifies the humans as omnivores who eat almost everything, which has been developed into a dominant part of mainstream unhealthiness, gradually causing the severe eating disorder consequences among people. Pollan offers his opinion that throughout the process of the natural history of foods, deciding “what should we have for dinner” can stir the anxiety for people based on considering foods’ quality, taste, price, nutrition, and so on.
So, a conclusion could be drawn that consumers will and do choose the unhealthy option a majority of the time. However, it does not address the disconnect, or why people are still consuming foods that are unhealthy for them even when given other options. One reason prominently stands out above the rest and that is the lack of education on the real effects the American diet, a highly addictive diet comprised of processed foods, high in sugar and fat, and void of fresh produce and other
In the article “It’s Portion Distortion That Makes America Fat,” by Shannon Brownlee explains how fast food companies persuade you to eat. In fast food places, they use fast food marketing strategies to induce an amount of people to eat more. Another strategy was called “smart research”. This strategy targeted “heavy users” and people who to go restaurants on a daily basis. Brownlee said that cheap products would influence us to buy more of them.
With that being said, most restaurants and grocery stores are declining industrialized foods, giving the name, “food-like substances.” Freedman feels that it is not a realistic way to stop this obesity epidemic by trying to persuade people into completely changing their habits of eating. Instead, Freedman believes that incorporating better ingredients in processed foods will
The addictive food that is sold by supermarkets is made to appeal to the consumers’ taste and make them addicted to it. In Michael Moss’ “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food,” he mentions that the potato chip is a snack that provides a feeling of pleasure as well as a rewarding sensation in the brain through its coating of salt and fat (490). Small details food companies put in the food make a difference in the taste, which tends to attract more consumers without them aware of how they are being addicted to the food. In food companies’ perspective, the engineering of food to add more flavor and attract more consumers has no issue since it is how companies make their profits. Stephen Sanger, head of General Mills and the Yoplait brand, was able to produce $500 million in revenue from a new dessert that originated from the yogurt since it maintains a nutritive image with consumers (Moss 475-476).
On a differing take on the solution, “Escape from the Western Diet” by Michael Pollan provides the complete change of our diet and way of life based around cooking and eating meals. however creates a more powerful and logical argument against the “Western Diet” in his article, He uses a combination of his credibility from his publications on health and foods, evidence against the practices of the medical community, along with his solution to the issue of obesity to create an article that draws in audience’s emotions and rationale. Pollan’s strongest points in his article was the use of credibility and his ability to bring logic and reason to most of his points against medical society and the publics solution to obesity. Pollan comes in with a stronger
Put Down That Cheeseburger! “What incentive is there for me to put down the cheeseburger?” asks Radley Balko in his article "What You Eat Is Your Business." He argues that, obesity does not belong in the public health crisis. He claims that obesity is not a problem that should be dealt at the cost of public money but should be dealt at a personal level by every individual.
Like the article, Unhappy Meals, by Michael Pollan mentioned the food we eat reflects our culture and what society has accepted as “healthy.” This article has open my eyes to observations I had never considered and circumstances I was not
Especially if the consumer is sensitive to certain ingredients or the way the food is placed. For example, if a consumer is not pleased or fond of olives, their appetite will decrease if it is in a dish. This happens commonly amongst children who don’t typically like vegetables. If a consumer doesn’t like the way a food is presented (i.e. messily chopped onions on a burger), this will result in the diner losing interest and appetite quickly. Or if they like some foods to be separated from one another on the plate.
Our body needs a healthy diet at some point in life. Some people eat food with excessive fat without their knowledge. Studies indicate that the level of obesity in the society is drastically increasing because of poor eating habits. A person’s lifestyle and eating habits determine if he/she will lose excessive
Our society has helped create a definition of dieting that is not only harmful to the body but also does not work. The proper definition of a diet would be the food and drink a person consumes daily and the mental and physical circumstances connected to eating. The public’s definition of a diet is to restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight. Those who engage in this sort of dieting begin with the wrong mentality. They believe by undertaking a diet they will lose weight and keep it off, when in reality most people fail with diets.