Supervisors: Klaus Grunert & Liisa Lähteenmäki
Discussants: Brandi Morris & Marco Hubert

Abstract
Snacks are primarily consumed for indulgence, and adding health-related information is not always appreciated by consumers. The mainly cognitively controlled goal of eating healthy seems to conflict with the implicit goal of eating something delicious. Three lab studies investigated the problem and analysed consumer reactions to health-related information on snacks along the customer journey, using implicit and explicit methods.

Results indicate that in the pre-purchase stage, perceived healthiness and expected tastiness are key determinants for product acceptance. Adding health-related information to the label has a positive and lasting effect on product acceptance until after the tasting. However, the healthy snack should not necessarily taste “healthy”, and package-based expectations and taste-based perceptions should not differ too much, because that reduced product acceptance. Upon repeated exposure, arousal and attention to the health-related information decreases. However, this has no influence on perceived healthiness or product acceptance. Overall, implicit methods were more sensitive to effects of consumers’ food choice motives, the context, and repeated exposure, while explicit methods were more sensitive to effects of health-related information on the product packaging.

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