In our super-sized world, it’s not easy to eat less at meals. But a new study suggests even modest incentives to eat smaller portions can pay off in a big way.
Call it the “Happy Meal effect.” Given the choice between a full-sized meal and one half the size with a modest “prize”, people will consistently choose the smaller meal. What’s better, it doesn’t take a free car to motivate healthier eating. Just the chance of winning a $10 lottery is enough. Researchers say the findings could be a way to fight obesity rates and health care costs.
“Portion sizes at US restaurants are often two or three times what they were 20 years ago, which is also distorting how much we eat at home,” says Deborah MacInnis, professor of business administration and professor of marketing at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. “The increase in portion size directly parallels the increase we observe in obesity.”
Ear buds or gift cards
Giving consumers an incentive for choosing smaller meal portions means lower daily caloric intake and also helps consumers realise that smaller portions won’t leave them hungry, she says.
In the first of three experiments, sixth-graders were offered the choice between a nine-inch sandwich and a 4.5-inch sandwich and inexpensive ear buds. The majority of children chose the smaller one.
In a second experiment with adults, half-sized portions were paired with the chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card or the chance to win 10,000 frequent-flyer miles accepted by all major airline loyalty programmes. The majority chose the incentive consistently over three days.
A third experiment had similar results in a real restaurant setting with customers who came in with the intention of buying a full-sized sandwich, but opted for the half-size and a chance to win a $10 lottery.
“Our research shows that small and even uncertain incentives motivate less food intake,” MacInnis says.
Fewer calories
The findings showed that the Happy Meal Effect is robust across different non-food incentives, foods, populations and time. Even hungry individuals were motivated to switch from the bigger to the smaller portion size when it was paired with an appealing offer. And people consistently chose the smaller meal-plus-incentive even when it was priced the same as the full-sized meal.
But did those who chose the half-sized portion compensate later in the day? The researchers measured total calorie intake for participants in the second experiment and found that not only did they not compensate, but they actually consumed fewer total calories compared to their baseline day.
The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
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