The Impact of Temporal Focus in Food Advertising on Delay Discounting and Consumption

Abstract

The rates of obesity among adults have exponentially increased over the last three decades. This is of major concern as obesity increases the likelihood of developing chronic (e.g. hypertension, diabetes) or even potentially fatal diseases (e.g. cancer, stroke, heart attack). Previous research has suggested that advertising of foods high in calories and low in nutrition may be contributing to the increasing rates of obesity. However, there has been no clear understanding of the mechanism through which food advertising increases risk of obesity. One possible mechanism is that some advertisements may shift temporal focus to the present, rather than the future. Past research has suggested that temporal focus on the present discounts future consequences (which can be assessed by the delay discounting task) and is related to riskier health behaviors (e.g., excess food consumption, smoking). Thus, advertisements that focus on the present instead of the future (“Live for Now”) may increase the likelihood of poor health decisions. However, individuals who are more skeptical of advertising may be less impacted and protected from these negative health behaviors. In the current study, we aim to examine the effects of food advertising among 112 college students at the University of Michigan. Participants were assigned to either a condition where they viewed a Pepsi “Live for Now” advertisement (shifts temporal focus to the present) or a control Pepsi “It's the Cola” condition and completed a delay discounting task and a food consumption task. Those in the “Live for Now” condition did not show great delay discounting or overall food consumption, but there was a significant increase in Pepsi consumption relative to the control group. These relationships were not moderated by advertising skepticism. These findings suggest that food advertising focusing on the present may be a contributing factor to the tendency to consume products that may be pleasurable in the moment but have long-term negative health consequences.