Food and Brand Lab: Difference between revisions
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== History == |
== History == |
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The Food and Brand Lab – originally known as the “Brand Lab” – was first established by Wansink while he was a marketing professor at Dartmouth College (1990-1994) and focused on individual food choices. The Lab was then transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (1995-1997), where its findings began to be noticed by major media outlets. The ''Wall Street Journal'' helped raise the Lab’s profile when it reported the findings of a series of studies on how package size influences how much food people consume on its front page. The finding that large packages can lead consumers to eat an average of 23% more food than an unconstrained smaller package provided systematic empirical evidence as to how one's immediate environment can bias them to unknowingly overeating. As the first major article on how an implied portion size influences food intake and calorie consumption, it helped launch the introduction of mini-size packaging, including the popular, premium-priced 100-calorie packs. |
The Food and Brand Lab – originally known as the “Brand Lab” – was first established by Wansink while he was a marketing professor at Dartmouth College (1990-1994) and focused on individual food choices. The Lab was then transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (1995-1997), where its findings began to be noticed by major media outlets. The ''Wall Street Journal'' helped raise the Lab’s profile when it reported the findings of a series of studies on how package size influences how much food people consume on its front page. The finding that large packages can lead consumers to eat an average of 23% more food than an unconstrained smaller package provided systematic empirical evidence as to how one's immediate environment can bias them to unknowingly overeating.<ref>"Super Bowls: Serving Bowl Size and Food Consumption," (2005) JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association, Brian Wansink and Matthew M. Cheney, 293:14 (April 13), 1727–1728.<ref> As the first major article on how an implied portion size influences food intake and calorie consumption, it helped launch the introduction of mini-size packaging, including the popular, premium-priced 100-calorie packs.[[2]] |
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As the Lab began focusing more and more on consumer welfare and nutrition, Wansink moved the Lab to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was hired as a joint professor of Nutritional Science, Marketing, and Agricultural and Consumer Science. At this time, the newly christened Food and Brand Lab was formally institutionalized, and it broadened its focus to study the environmental factors that unknowingly influenced what a person eats and how much they eat. |
As the Lab began focusing more and more on consumer welfare and nutrition, Wansink moved the Lab to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was hired as a joint professor of Nutritional Science, Marketing, and Agricultural and Consumer Science. At this time, the newly christened Food and Brand Lab was formally institutionalized, and it broadened its focus to study the environmental factors that unknowingly influenced what a person eats and how much they eat. |
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Revision as of 20:14, 5 September 2007
The Food and Brand Lab is a non-profit research facility at Cornell University which focuses on why people buy and eat the foods they do in the quantities they do. Directed by Brian Wansink[1], the stated mission of the Lab is to "Conduct top level academic research that enables consumers to use food to help them 'to be what they want to be' -- this could involve eating less, eating better, or enjoying food more." By focusing on behavioral and psychological explanations as to why people overeat and why they have the food preferences they have, the Lab aims at helping individuals and health care providers change food-related behaviors and improve health. The findings of the lab are widely published in medical, marketing, nutrition, and psychology journals. They have also been summarized in the best-selling book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (2006) and in Marketing Nutrition (2005), and they have been widely reported in the popular press.
History
The Food and Brand Lab – originally known as the “Brand Lab” – was first established by Wansink while he was a marketing professor at Dartmouth College (1990-1994) and focused on individual food choices. The Lab was then transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (1995-1997), where its findings began to be noticed by major media outlets. The Wall Street Journal helped raise the Lab’s profile when it reported the findings of a series of studies on how package size influences how much food people consume on its front page. The finding that large packages can lead consumers to eat an average of 23% more food than an unconstrained smaller package provided systematic empirical evidence as to how one's immediate environment can bias them to unknowingly overeating.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
- The average person makes over 250 decisions about food each day.[1]
- The Nutritional Gatekeeper of a home influences an estimated 72% of all of the food their family eats.[2]
- Because of visual illusions, people (even bartenders) pour 28% more liquid into a short wide glasses than tall ones.[3]
- 50% of the snack foods bought in bulk are eaten within 6 days. [4]
Bibliography
- "The Wizard of Why" by Robin Jenkins Mather Chicago Tribune, 3-30-05, Section 7, pp 1+
- "Seduced By Snacks? No, Not You" by Kim Severson New York Times, 10-11-06, pp. D1+.
- "Just Put Your Mind to It" by Nanci Hellmich USA Today, 10-11-06, p. 5D.
- "New Tricks for Eating Better and Less..." Fitness, 11-06, pp. 16-18.
- "I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing" by Patricia Volk, O Magazine, 11-06, pp. 229-233.
External links
- ^ “Mindless Eating: The 200 Daily Food Decisions We Overlook,” (2007) Environment and Behavior, Brian Wansink and Jeffrey Sobal, 39:1 (January), 106-23.
- ^ "Nutritional Gatekeepers and the 72% Solution,” (2006) Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Brian Wansink 106:9 (September), 1324–1327
- ^ "Shape of Glass and Amount of Alcohol Poured: Comparative Study of Effect of Practice and Concentration," (2005) BMJ – British Medical Journal, Brian Wansink and Koert van Ittersum, 331:7531 (December 24) 1512–1514.
- ^ "When are Stockpiled Products Consumed Faster? A Convenience-Salience Framework of Post-purchase Consumption Incidence and Quantity," (2002) Journal of Marketing Research, Pierre Chandon and Brian Wansink, 39:3 (August), 321–335.