Intuitive advertisers: Emotionality in communication about unhealthy food.

Abstract

This research tests whether people use more emotion-based language when communicating with one another about unhealthy foods than healthy foods. This matters because emotion-based language is more persuasive. In three observational studies, we analyzed the emotionality in 1,000 online recipe descriptions, 4,403 food reviews, and 1,184 celebrity social media posts. In two experiments (N = 398), we analyzed the emotionality when people are prompted to persuade someone to consume an unhealthy food compared with a healthy food. In one experiment (N = 192), we tested persuasiveness as a function of emotionality. Speakers use more emotionality when communicating about less healthy foods. People's tendency to focus more on long-term benefits when communicating about healthy (vs. unhealthy) foods mediated the effect of food type on emotionality. Emotionality, in turn, increases persuasiveness for healthy foods. People use emotionality in communicating about unhealthy (vs. healthy) foods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).