Abstract
BACKGROUND: Food marketing across all social media sites globally is dominated by the promotion of unhealthy food products such as snacks, confectionery, and fast food. This vast exposure to unhealthy food marketing across social media has contributed to the overconsumption of unhealthy food. Studies investigating the effect of the popularity of food images on food intake have produced mixed results, with some studies reporting no effect on food intake. The literature provides strong evidence of the influence of celebrities on food consumption and eating behavior. This research focuses on digital food posts with and without celebrity appearance and their role in nudging healthy eating. This research also tested the mediating role of celebrity-self congruency and the moderating role of celebrity attractiveness and involvement with healthy food. METHODS: An online experiment 2 (with celebrity vs. without-celebrity) x 2 (healthy vs. unhealthy food items) between-subjects design was conducted to test the effect of a celebrity's Instagram posts featuring healthy vs. unhealthy food products on eating intention and digital engagement with food posts. Four hundred and thirty-two undergraduate students participated in this study in exchange for a cash incentive. The students were enrolled in a higher education institution in Lahore, Pakistan. 48% of participants were female, and 52% of them were male. Demographics of the participants represented Generation Z. RESULTS: We found that the Instagram posts of unhealthy and healthy food images without a celebrity (vs. with a celebrity) led to higher eating intention and digital engagement. The mediation effect of celebrity congruency on eating intention and digital engagement with food posts was non-significant. The moderated mediating effect of celebrity attractiveness on digital engagement with food posts was significant, such that the high level of attractiveness leads to higher digital engagement. The moderated mediated effect of involvement with healthy food on eating intention was significant, such that the high level of involvement leads to higher eating intention. DISCUSSION: The findings showed that the wide influence of celebrities has an impact on eating intention and digital engagement. While this effect is significant, the aesthetically appealing food posts without featuring celebrities have a stronger impact on eating intention and digital engagement. Digital engagement has emerged as a significant online tool to promote healthy food consumption. We suggest that the promotion of healthy foods could be more successful on social media platforms when using attractive celebrities.