How do people choose Non-Fat / Fat modified products

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Why do people choose to buy /not to buy fat modified food

Introduction

Epidemic of fat33.8% America people consider to be obese

Background of the Fat free/None fat product

Popularity of Fat modified product-gain control of customer’s weight without making them get hungry.

Aim of research

Why people doesn’t consume?

Why People consume? Anything else?

Secondary data review

Why fat is so bad?Increased risk for obesity and some types of cancer, and saturated fat intake is associated with high blood cholesterol and coronary heart disease (AHA, 1996; USDHHS, 1988).

Definition of none fat/ low fat productModified version of familiar food products. Fat reduction is achieved either by using less fat in food production, replace fat with chemical fat replacer or by removing fat from raw materials (National Public Health Institute/Department of Nutrition, 1999)

Descriptive research• ¾ Americans were consuming low-fat

products on an occasional basis• Age of 25 and over the age of 45 are the ones

who consume low fat products the most• 90% people have tried the fat-modified food• Most popular product is low fat milk (70%).

Second is low fat salad dressing (57%)• Only 38% said that they used low fat

products for their good taste

Possible reason why none fat• Reduce the risk for several chronic

diseases

• Help body weight control and maybe lead to better physical health and appearance.

• Trendy thing -advertisement generate the emotional feeling.

Possible reason why not none fat• TasteBecause fat content attribute to the taste texture characteristics of many foods, fat reduction have a serious impact for the taste (Drewnowski, 1990)• Fat replacerChemical replacer input (Drewnowski, 1990)

• ExperienceNo previous experience will decrease the acceptance of the food(Rozin andVollmecke, 1986)

• Dissatisfaction Consumers need to fulfill their need and feeling well after eating

• PriceThe market share % of whole fat milk consider to be much higher than other country.

Fat adoption model

Other concern• Research suggest that the consumer

preference for fat or fat-free food depends on the type of the product (Low fat flavor milk is welcome, low fat cheese is not)

• The taste between regular version and fat-modified version perceived to be alike.

• People even eat more when they’ve been informed that they are eating fat modified food.

• The obesity problem is getting more serious (33% in 1990, 33.8% in 2010)

Methodology

Qualitative- Blind Test (In class)

• Which one is the worst flavor ?? (1/ 2/ 3)• Can you tell which one is

low-fat/fat-free/regular?

PLEASE TRY THEM ALL!

Quantitative-Survey Part I: Demography•Sample: 44 respondents(20 male and 24 female), from Facebook•Average age: 25.9 •Income: 70% of respondents earned less than $25,000 a year•Person type categories: pay full attention/pay some attention to fat and calories in their diet or don’t care and eat whatever

Part II: • How often does people buy low-fat and non-fat products (Five option liker-scale) • Why or why not buy (multiple choices and open-ended answer)• General perception (Health/Trendiness/Flavor/Price) Part III: • Influence of advertisement of low-fat and non-fat products on consumer behavior

Qualitative - In-depth Interview • Five main questions; some sub-questions

concerning different low/fat and non-fat products. • 6 Interviewees (3 males and 3 females/ Four

American and two Taiwanese. ) • Average age: 23.5 year old• 4 current students, and 2 are employed.

-Online forum analysis• Forum web-page: www.sparkpeople.com (more

than 11.5million users)• Researched the discussion boards for one week .

Result

Interview Resultcontain

chemicals that are dangerous

low fat has nothing to do with weight

control

“I think low-fat products are healthier, but

more expensive. But because some low fat products are organic, I am willing to pay a higher price”.

The buyer

The skeptics

I think the Zero soda, will lack of flavor, the taste

might not be good

Misunderstand of the concept of low-fat/fat-free

It depends on the category

” When I am choosing the salad dressing I like , I always choose the regular one, but if I am choosing among the other kinds of sauce, I will choose the low fat one”

Perhaps when people eat for healthiness, or just to fill their present hunger, they choose the low-fat/non-fat option and are possibly not as concerned with taste. On the other hand, if they are eating in order to savor the taste, or wanting full tasting meal, they prefer the regular version.

“I won’t buy fat-reduced cheese”

Online Forum analyzeTheme One: Satisfy Sweet Tooth without Guilty They are craving something sweet, but don’t want to get fat---Discuss healthy and low-fat/ fat-free receipts, like “fat-free cookies”/ “Healthy foods that satisfy your sweet tooth?” Choose low-fat and non-fat sweet snack or dessert to feel better and less guilty Eg: BGIDEON said:” Arctic Zero ‘ice cream’ has 37 calories per serving, The whole pint has 150. It takes good, and like the texture. It doesn’t exactly taste like ice cream, but it is close enough for me.” Believe low-fat and non-fat products are healthier and taste goodEg: AEON077 said “Chobani Greek Yogurts!! They are the best! Fat free, lots of protein and somewhere between 100-120 calories...can't remember exactly. And they taste SOOO GOOOD.” However, they neglect the sugar content in low-fat and non fat products can also be high. Argue for mindlessly eating more while eating low-fat or fat-free products.

Online Forum analyzeTheme Two: Flavor Controversial Some love the flavor of low-fat and non-fat productEg: BETHV10 said “I prefer the light version fat-free cream

cheese,as I think it has a better taste”; Eg: MANDIETERRIER replied that “I have used the Neufchatel

cheese, which is cream cheese with less fat. And that tastes just as good.”

Some people hate the flavor of low-fat and non-fat foodEg: EVIEBELL said that “I don't think it's really possible to

bake stuff that is fat free and have it turn out good. I've tried, and the fat-free cookies seems to come out very dense/chewy/spongy, and not in a good way”

Online Forum analyzeTheme Three: Less Fat, but higher risk Some low-fat and fat-free products contain chemical

that are not good for health, even cause cancer.Eg: DANNIELLEMARIE said that “Fat-free sour cream can be aswell

but it often has chemicals that the Greek yogurt doesn't have.”Eg: GGMAKAT pointed out that “As others have commented, I have also had a nutritionist tell me not to use fat free dressings”Eg:From the discussion of “anyone on the ‘snob diet’?”,

BED0FR0SES said that “many a 'diet' food is heavily processed with chemical additives and salt….”

Eg:From the discussion of “Your favorite large volume, low calorie/fat meal?”, PATTISWIMMER respondent Said that“ well I made goat stew this week, with sprouts, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, butternut squash, spinach, cauliflower,

broccoli , mushrooms, lentils, and yum very tasty.. high fiber,, high vegetables... and I don't do no fat because now low-fat causes cancer”

Online Forum analyze

Theme Four: Low-Fat and Fat-Free Trick Some people think low-fat and fat-free products are tricky and unreliable.1.Eg:According to the discussion of “Kroger’s Carbmaster yogurt (low fat yogurt)”, those who are against low-fat yogurt tried to argue that even though low-fat yogurt, it might contain higher sugar2.Eg:MANDIETERRIER1 said that “whenever they take the fat out they have to replace it with something else”3.Eg:DIETITIANBECKY responded that “This is a low fat yogurt, not a fat free yogurt, meaning that some of the milk fat has been removed, but not all of the milk fat. There is something "tricky" going on here.” 4.Eg: From the discussion of “Fat free salad dress”, ASHBUG124 argued that “Don’t waste your money on those fat free dressings; they are nothing but chemicals for the most part. Newman's Own makes a few nice "lighten up" all natural dressings but they are not 100% fat free”.

Survey resultGENDER

INCOME

How consumer perceived their food?

How often buy Fat free food?

Why you buy fat modified food?

Why not buy?

General perception: Price

General perception: Health

General Perception: Trendy

General Perception: Flavor

Ad influence

Advertisement

Conclusion • Why do people choose to buy fat modified

products• Why don’t people buy fat modified

products• Advertisements work!• Interesting fact

Recommendations for future research• More of everything• Experiment• Exploration of the role of advertisements

Recommendations for practitioners• Ingredients• Flavor improvement• Emphasize low calorie + low fat

combination

Discussion• Low fat/None fat products. A help or a

smokescreen when trying to lose weight?• Do you have any concerns about the

ingredients of low/ none fat products? (Aspartame, sugar)

• Do the flavor that bad?(Yogurt, milk, potato chips)

• Does ads for LF/NF-products incur sale because they give the viewer a negative self-image or is it simply because the product looks enticing

• Taste considered to be the most important factor that keeps customer away, but since the technology has been developed for so long, Can customer really tell the difference? Or are they biased ? (Blind test)