The influence of product branding and orthorexia nervosa on consumer behavior and perceptions of health in a social media context

Abstract

The nation has a challenging relationship with food, with marketing techniques often polarizing items as good or bad and social media influencers communicating the same message. We examined the relationship between marketing strategies, social media, and Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) by identifying the words ‘health’ and ‘protein’ as influential in consumer attitudes and behaviors and manipulating these words on fictional products. Our participants were female-identifying college students and were recruited both in-person and online (N = 152). These manipulations did not have significant effects on reported purchase intention. The protein manipulation increased consumer perception of health and yielded an interaction effect with the bar title on this same factor. ON risk and social media influencers did not have significant effects on our sample. These findings partially replicate previous studies about the influence of protein and support the need for further research into consumer perceptions of health and behaviors.