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PROVO — BYU researcher Tamara Masters has found that people are willing to pay more for vice foods — like ice cream, cookies, and other unhealthy snacks — when the packaging is labeled with a superhero.
Previous studies have shown that including characters on packaging may influence how people respond to food items. One such investigation demonstrated that including cartoon characters on packaging for food items increased interest in the product and induced an increased taste-placebo effect of around 88% in children. No studies like Masters’, evaluating the effect of superheroes and villains on food, have been done before.
In her study, Masters examined whether vice foods with hero labels would be more popular than the same food shown with villain labels. Simultaneously, she sought to find whether healthy foods would be more popular with villainous labels.
"If someone wants an ice cream bar and it is labeled with a hero on the label, the kind and benevolent character makes the indulgent product seem less vice," Masters said in a BYU press release. "But a product that is already healthy, like water, is preferred more with a villain labeling because it makes the water seem more edgy and exciting."
To test this hypothesis, researchers set up a sampling table for cheese curds at a local grocery store. Throughout the day, the signs describing the cheese curds were changed to have images of either Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader along with the words “Healthy and Nutritious” or “Tasty and Decadent.” Participants were able to sample the cheese curds and write how much they would be willing to pay for them.
The researchers also studied data from grocery stores to determine if consumers followed a pattern with their purchases. Sales of indulgent products offered with hero or villain labels were tracked and the results recorded.
Across seven laboratory and field studies, the research revealed that consumers were willing to pay more for curds that were described as healthy and nutritious with a picture of a villain, but they would also pay less for the same description accompanied by a hero.
Overall, the article helped researchers begin to understand how consumers might perceive hero or villain labels in relation to their food choices.
More study is needed to examine all aspects of how the labeling impacts viewer perception. Masters' research helps provide insight into the effect of hero and villain branding and offers some data which might inform marketing strategy and public policy.
"We see hero and villain labeling everywhere we go, and people don't realize how they use these labels to justify their buying decisions," Masters said. "People may want to be healthy and spend less, but they still want something that is exciting, and the right labeling can make this possible."
