Pierre Chandon

Pierre Chandon, Professor, Director, INSEAD Sorbonne University Behavioral Lab.

Title:  "Less Size, More Pleasure: Palatable Anti-Obesity Solutions”

Abstract:

Traditional policy solutions to the obesity epidemic (warnings, labels, taxes, bans), despite their usefulness, generate strong resistance because they are perceived as restricting choice and stifling business. Traditional industry response, food reformulation, is mistrusted on both hedonic or health grounds and can lead to overeating because of “health halos”. More fundamentally, obesity is largely driven by ever-increasing food portion sizes. Yet, our efforts to fight it have focused on trying to influence what people eat instead of how much they eat3. It is time to consider another approach, one focused on fighting obesity by making people happier to spend more for less food, a triple win for public health, business, and eating enjoyment. I will present research on these two ideas:

1. Less size (smart downsizing). Visual biases make us strongly underestimate today’s supersized portions and resist downsizing4. Drawing on our knowledge of these biases, we can increase acceptance of portion downsizing, by bringing original small sizes back to lunchroom menus (to reframe perceptions of and preferences for a “normal” size), or  by using “stealth” downsizing that elongates, instead of shortening, packages in supermarkets5.
2. More pleasure (refocus on the sensory pleasure of eating, rather than on value for money or abstract health). My research shows that highlighting sensory pleasure (which peaks with the first mouthful) leads school kids and fast-food patrons to choose, prefer, and pay more for smaller portions6. This can be done easily in schools through sensory imagery training and in restaurants with more vivid menu descriptions.

References:

Cornil, Yann and Pierre Chandon (2016), "Pleasure as a Substitute for Size: How Multisensory Imagery Can Make People Happier with Smaller Food Portions." Journal of Marketing Research, 53 (5), 847-64. Download here. 

Ordabayeva, Nailya and Pierre Chandon (2016), "In the Eye of the Beholder: Visual Biases in Package and Portion Size Perceptions ". Appetite, 103 450-57. Download here.