COLUMBUS – Human nature is a funny thing: Contrary, yet – to a certain extent – predictable. We believe that something is higher quality if it’s more expensive, but an OSU researcher says we also think higher-priced food is healthier, even when the key ingredient is not any better for us than the less expensive version.
The study’s co-author says the results mean that, not only can stores charge more for products that are touted as healthy, but shoppers may not believe that a product is healthy if it doesn’t cost more.
“It’s concerning” said Rebecca Reczek, professor of marketing at OSU’s Fisher College of Business. “The findings suggest that price of food alone can impact our perceptions of what is healthy and even what health issues we should be concerned about.”
Reczek conducted the study with researchers at Vanderbilt University and the University of Georgia. The results appear online in the Journal of Consumer Research.
The researchers conducted five related studies to examine common-sense explanations, known as “lay theories,” that consumers have to pay more to eat healthfully.
One example of the “healthy equals expensive” lay theory is nickname people have given to Whole Foods, which touts itself as “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store.” It is frequently called “Whole Paycheck.”
While some organic and gluten-free products are more expensive than other varieties, Reczek says healthier foods do not always cost more, but the research turned up some strange findings about people’s perceptions of the relationship between nutritional value and price.
For example, people in one study thought eye health was a more important issue for them when they were told about an expensive but unfamiliar food ingredient that would protect their vision. If the same ingredient was relatively cheap, people didn’t think the issue it treated – eye health – was as important.
Presented with four options of trail mix, all differently priced, some saw a product called “Perfect Vision Mix” touted as “rich in Vitamin A for eye health” while others saw a reference to the relatively unfamiliar DHA. Some saw the trail mix listed at an average price, while others saw it listed at a premium price above the other three trail mixes.
While both Vitamin A and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) are indeed good for eye health, people thought Vitamin A was equally important in a healthy diet, regardless of the price.
But if the ingredient was DHA, participants thought it was a more important part of a healthy diet if it was in the expensive trail mix
“People are familiar with Vitamin A, so they feel they can judge its value without any price cues,” Reczek said. “But people don’t know much about DHA, so they go back to the lay theory that expensive must be healthier.”
But testing the healthy/expensive theory had an even more surprising effect.
When participants were told DHA helped prevent macular degeneration, people thought this was a more important health issue when the trail mix with DHA was more expensive.
When the DHA product was an average price, they were less concerned about macular degeneration.