How Perception Influences Food Aesthetics and Healthiness

While scrolling through Instagram, you see a perfectly put together hamburger from one restaurant and a disproportionate and disastrous one from another. Which are you going to order? And which do you think is healthier?

Research suggests that you’d pick the restaurant with the put together burger and that you also perceive it as healthier.

To explain how food aesthetics impact consumer behavior, we dive into a study by Linda Hagen of the University of Southern California, which explores the concept of pretty healthy food.

Methodology: Food Aesthetics

Study 1: Prettiness = Perceived Naturalness and Healthiness. This experiment was a two-fold exploration of how prettiness impacts the perceived naturalness and healthiness of food.

For the first part, researchers provided 400 participants with photos of avocado toast. The photos had either pretty (repetitive and orderly patterns) or ugly toasts, but they were told that every piece had one slice of wheat bread and half of an avocado. The participants rated the toast on perceived healthiness, naturalness (natural, pure, unprocessed), and tastiness.

Overall, the toast was perceived as more natural when it was pretty. There was no difference in the perceived tastiness between ugly and pretty pieces of toast.

The second part of the first study was similar to the first, but 801 participants were told they were going to see pretty (or ugly) food before seeing photos. This was to set expectations. They were shown three photos with different healthiness levels. After viewing them, they rated the foods on the same scale as the other study.

When participants were told they were going to see pretty food, they were reported prettier. In addition, prettier foods were rated healthier and more natural.

Study 2: Prettiness Increases Willingness-to-Pay for Real Food via Healthiness. Here they analyzed how prettiness can influence a consumer’s willingness to pay for food. Eighty-nine participants evaluated a pretty (symmetrical and balanced) or ugly bell pepper and rated how pretty, healthy, and tasty they thought it was before receiving $1.

The participants bid some of their $1 in 10 cent increments knowing a die would roll determining how much the pepper would cost. If their bid was equal or more than the price, they would buy the pepper and get the rest of their $1. If their bid was below the selling price, they would not buy the pepper and would get $1 in cash.

Participants rated prettier peppers to be healthier and tastier and were more likely to bid on it.

Study 3: Prettiness Impacts Healthiness Judgments Even When Accuracy is Incentivized. This study focused on how prettiness impacts perceived healthiness when there’s an incentive associated with the right choice. A pretty or ugly version of almond butter and banana toast along with a photo of avocado toast was presented to 300 participants. They were asked which food had fewer calories and was told that they would receive $0.25 for the correct answer (which was the avocado toast).

When the participants were given the pretty version of the almond butter and banana toast, they voted it to have fewer calories than the avocado toast.

Study 4: Only Classical Aesthetics Enhance Perceived Naturalness and Healthiness. This study examined a different type of prettiness and how that may impact perceived naturalness and healthiness. The type of prettiness they examined is classical aesthetics, which is when patterns resemble those found in nature.

First, 4,601 participants were assigned a picture of almond butter and banana toast and randomly assigned one of the conditions: ugly, classical aesthetics, or expressive aesthetics. Expressive aesthetics is the opposite of classic: the patterns do not resemble nature. After participants were told that all the foods have the same ingredients, they rated perceived healthiness, naturalness, sophistication, and care (how much it was thoughtfully created).

Overall, the classical aesthetic condition showed increased perceived healthiness because it triggered a sense of naturalness. Sophistication and care were not factors in the results.

Lastly, the classical and expressive aesthetic conditions were rated equally as pretty.

Now for the second part, imagine you’re given the choice between three avocado toast pieces that have the same tastiness, price, and ingredients. However, one option is ugly, one is pretty, and the last one is pretty with a disclaimer “this piece of toast has been artificially modified”. Which are you most likely to pick and perceive as healthiest?

This exercise was given to 301 participants. The ugly and pretty-disclaimer conditions were rated less healthy than the pretty condition. The pretty disclaimer photo was perceived as less natural compared to the pretty image. Tastiness was not affected by prettiness. Therefore, prettiness leads to higher perceived healthiness because it seems more natural.

The Results and Implications of Food Aesthetics on Consumer Behavior

Overall, these results suggest that consumer behavior is in fact influenced by prettiness because of its perceived naturalness, and therefore healthiness.

Next time you’re deciding which restaurant to order from, it’s important to not solely base your decisions off of how the food looks.

Your Pop Neuro Consumer Behavior Insights:

Consumers are more likely to believe food is healthier if it is prettier
Food is more likely to be purchased if it is prettier
Perceived healthiness is triggered by perceived naturalness of a food

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References

Hagen, L. (2020). Pretty Healthy Food: How and When Aesthetics Enhance Perceived Healthiness. Journal of Marketing, 002224292094438. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242920944384