A basic misconception has stymied
our response to the
obesity epidemic: the belief that
food-related decisions are consciously
and deliberately made.
Our reluctance to interfere with
or regulate the food environment
is a direct consequence of the belief
that people’s food choices reflect
their true desires. However,
given the large proportion of people
who claim that they want to
lose weight and the small proportion
who are actually able to
do so, we must concede that human
behavior doesn’t always conform
with professed goals.
The reality is that food choices
are often automatic and made
without full conscious awareness.
In many cases, they may even be
the opposite of what the person
deciding would consciously prefer.
What and how much people eat
are highly influenced by contextual
factors that they may not recognize
and therefore cannot easily
resist. A clear example of this
influence is the placement of candy
at the cash register, which is
widely acknowledged to be a promotional
strategy called “impulse
marketing.” Impulse marketing
encourages spur-of-the-moment,
emotion-related purchases that are
triggered by seeing the product
or a related message.
Impulse marketing works
through the placement and display
of products in retail outlets.
In fact, the arrangement of products
in stores is the most important
malleable determinant of
sales. For example, goods placed
in prominent end-of-aisle locations
account for about 30% of all
supermarket sales.1 Indeed, vendors
pay a slotting fee to retail
markets to guarantee that their
products will be placed in these
locations. Placing products in