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38 MBiz | november 2015 w hat's for dinner? Chances are, your menu has been influenced by subtle environmental cues, according to Luke Zhu, an assistant professor of organizational behaviour at the I.H. Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba. Zhu is the lead researcher on the paper Macho Nachos: The Implicit Effects of Gendered Food Packaging on Preferences for Healthy and Unhealthy Foods, published in the academic journal Social Psychology. The work has implications for marketers who want to target their products more effectively, but Zhu says the researchers were more interested in providing insight for consumers who want to maintain a healthy diet. "We want to make people aware of these subtle cues in life that could, without knowing it, change our preferences and our decisions," Zhu says. "We tend to think every decision we make is rational, based on careful reasoning but … a lot of the things in our surrounding environment actually have a pretty profound influence on our decisions." Zhu says gender and cultural stereotypes colour our perceptions of certain foods — we associate barbecued meat with masculinity, while healthier options such as salad are associated with femininity. The researchers found that simply priming subjects with gender-based cues affected their food preferences. Study participants were given word puzzles in which they found feminine words such as "pink" or "ballet," or masculine words such as "blue" or "boy." Afterward, they were asked to choose between healthy and less healthy options. "If they were primed with femininity they actually preferred healthier food, but if they were primed with masculinity, they actually preferred unhealthier food," Zhu says. Asked if they were aware of the influence of feminine-masculine word associations in the puzzles, none of the participants made the connection, he adds. "They thought they were totally irrelevant tasks. But it is really these seemingly irrelevant tasks that actually made a difference in what they chose to consume in a subsequent task." In a second study, participants were given an identical muffin presented in four different ways: It was described as healthy or unhealthy, with both options presented in either a feminine or masculine package. "We found that people had a much stronger preference for muffins that are healthy and packaged in feminine packaging, or an unhealthy muffin packaged in masculine packaging," Zhu says. In fact, the gender associations are so strong that when they were violated — presenting a "healthy" muffin in a masculine package, for example — participants had a negative response. "And they don't know why, but they just tell you, 'I somehow don't think the muffin tastes as good,' " Zhu says. The research has practical implications for both marketers and consumers. For example, a company that advertises its product as healthy should present it in feminine packaging. "Being feminine doesn't mean you have to use pink or you have to find a female celebrity to represent your product, but the font, the colour you use needs to be somewhat feminine," Zhu says. As for consumers, they should be aware that packaging and other cues factor into decisions to eat healthy or less healthy foods. "A lot these cues are subtle — they're so subtle that we only notice it because we notice it subconsciously," Zhu says. Further research could find ways to help people move past the stereotypes. The Macho Nachos study and other research projects have attracted attention from international media, including Time magazine, the CBC, Sky News Australia and The Times of India, and Zhu says he'll "definitely" continue the work. He considers himself lucky to have an occupation that lets him feed his curiosity. "I tell my students this is probably the best job, at least for me, because they pay me to do things that I am really interested in." ■ i.h. asPer sChooL oF business Macho Nacho Man: i.h. asper school of Business assistant professor luke zhu. Photo by Darcy Finley Food for ThoughT we want to make people aware of these subtle cues in life that could, without knowing it, change our preferences and our decisions."

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