Slim or Plus-Size Burrito? A natural experiment of consumers’ restaurant choice

Anthropomorphic food labels, such as “Thin cookie” or “Fat burger”, are often used to describe the size and shape of food and have been shown to affect consumers’ food choices. More crucially, this effect may differ among vulnerable populations such as individuals with overweight and obesity due to self-image similitudes. We explore how anthropomorphic food labels influence the food choices of restaurant patrons with different weight status. We conduct a natural field experiment in a restaurant where the portion sizes in the menu are labeled using anthropomorphic human body features. Small/Large portions are presented as Slim/Regular in one treatment to reflect a desirable weight status. In a second treatment, Small/Large portions are presented as Regular/Plus Size to represent a less ideal weight status. Overall, we find that the Regular/Plus Size label increases the selection of small portions by 14.3 percentage points when objective portion size information is provided. In particular, individuals with overweight/obesity are 23.4 percentage points more likely to choose a small portion item under the Regular/Plus Size label compared to the Slim/Regular label. These results have marketing and policy implications for food labeling and their effect on food consumption among vulnerable populations.