from Journal of Marketing Research
Does the smell of a certain food make you crave it? Maybe that can be a tool to help you fight that craving. Researchers at the University of South Florida wrote in the Journal of Marketing Research. They used an inconspicuously placed nebulizer that either gave off the scent of healthy or unhealthy foods. When participants in the study were exposed to the smell of cookies for less than thirty seconds, they were likely to want a cookie. But those exposed longer than two minutes did not find the cookie that desirable and picked strawberries instead. The same thing happened with the scent of pizza versus apples. Authors say subtle sensory stimuli like scents can be more effective in influencing children and adult food choices than restrictive policies.