Obesity: a Matter of Language? Unravelling the Influence of Descriptive Styles and Food Types on Consumers' Desirability and Purchase Intentions.
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2024-01-17
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en
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Obesity is one of the major causes of death worldwide and is mainly caused by people eating
too much food, predominantly unhealthy. Previous research has found a big difference in the way healthy and unhealthy products are portrayed towards customers regarding language type and representation. This study investigates whether there is an effect of food type and the language type used in the product descriptions of these food types on the consumers’
desirability and purchase intention of the products. To try to get an answer to the research
question, an experiment has been conducted where Dutch participants were asked to rate
their desirability and purchase intention on the basis of multiple product descriptions in the form of a questionnaire. Taking all the results of the experiment into consideration, it can be concluded that language type does not influence the desirability and purchase intention of the consumers, whereas food type does. Furthermore, health-focused language was found to be the most effective in inducing a difference between the desirability and purchase
intentions of healthy and unhealthy products. This study, together with the existing literature and theories, shows that the way products are portrayed is a crucial aspect of consumers’ preferences and choices. Manipulating product descriptions could successfully change consumers’ expectations and motivation to make healthier food choices, which might ultimately result in a decrease in the worldwide obesity rate.
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