– We wanted to investigate how the choice between healthy and unhealthy meal options influenced by the waitress’s appearance. In our experiment, a waitress, using clothing, makeup and accessories, three different characters; healthy, unhealthy and overweight. The appearance of the different characters were tested in a previous study to be sure that the manipulation worked, says Poja Shams, lecturer in business administration at the CTF.
The staff’s appearance can steer consumers’ choices
The results showed that the elections of the unhealthy meal options increased by 60 percent at the service of the waitress who would appear as “unhealthy”.
– The important aspect of the results is precisely the identification of the person who serves the food; whether one can identify with the waitress so, the choice more towards what is socially acceptable. The trend in our society is right now that we have a healthy lifestyle and the participants in our study also wanted to make the choice that is most social acceptable, that is, they want to be healthy, says Poja Shams.
– The conclusion of the study is that the staff’s appearance has a direct impact on customers. This in itself is interesting. We have long known that the stores are trying to influence customers by how they place the goods, what music they play, how it smells and the staff look. But how many of us have not said that “This will not affect me!” Our research shows more and more often the opposite. The underlying mechanism is automated response, we will be affected and act without actually thinking about it, says Anders Gustafsson, professor of business.
The study was conducted in conjunction with researchers Tabea Huneke, EBS Business School, and Sabine Benoit, University of Roehampton, and the article “Does Service Employees’ Appearance Affect the healthiness of Food Choice?” published in the journal Psychology & amp; Marketing, Volume 32, Issue 1, pages 94-106, January 2015th
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