A disregard for calories during sampling: Exploring the “samples don’t count” effect

Abstract

Product sampling is an important part of food retailing promotion. We explore how food sampling affects individuals’ total caloric estimates of a consumption episode. In a field study, at a small self-serve frozen yogurt store, 144 participants were randomly assigned to either a control or samples’ condition. Analysis of variance showed that individuals who had no or one sample overestimated the number of calories they were consuming, while those who had two or more samples underestimated their caloric intake.

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Martins, C. , Block, L. and Dahl, D. (2014) A disregard for calories during sampling: Exploring the “samples don’t count” effect. Health, 6, 218-222. doi: 10.4236/health.2014.63032.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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