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There is increasing interest in the effect that food environments may have on obesity, particularly through mechanisms related to the marketing and consumption of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods and sugary beverages. Price promotions, such as temporary price discounts, have been particularly effective in the marketing of carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) among consumers. Research has also suggested that the purchasing behavior of consumer groups may be differentially sensitive to price discounts on CSDs, with obese women particularly sensitive. In addition, the intensity of price discount in a person’s food environment may also vary across geography and over time. This study examines whether the weight change of obese women, compared to overweight or normal BMI women, is more sensitive to the intensity of price discounts on CSDs in the food environment. This study used longitudinal survey data from 1622 women in the Montreal Neighborhood Networks and Health Aging (MoNNET-HA) Panel. Women were asked to report their height and weight in 2008, 2010 and 2013 in order to calculate women’s BMI in 2008 and their change of weight between 2008 and 2013. Women’s exposure to an unhealthy food environment was based on the frequency in which their neighborhood food stores placed price discounts on CSDs in 2008. The price discount frequency on CSDs within women’s neighborhoods was calculated from Nielsen point-of sales transaction data in 2008 and geocoded to participant’s forward sortation area. The prevalence of obesity and overweight among MoNNET-HA female participants was 18.3% in 2008, 19.9% in 2010 and 20.7% in 2013 respectively. Results showed that among obese women, exposure to unhealthy food environments was associated with a 3.25 kilogram (SE = 1.35, p-value = 0.02) weight gain over the five-year study period. Exposure to price discounts on CSDs may disproportionately affect and reinforce weight gain in women who are already obese.

Food systems and food supply chains (FSCs) have undergone significant changes in their operations and structure over the last decade as globalization expands both food choice and availability. As FSCs lengthen, and food passes through extended trading relationships, transparency on food origins, methods of cultivation, harvest, processing as well as labor conditions and sustainability is reduced, along with food trust. Moreover, while the rapid pace of technology innovation benefits FSCs, we are witness to the usage of social media platforms by citizen-consumers to amplify the rhetoric related to recurring incidents and crises in food quality, food safety, food fraud, food security, sustainability, and other ethical lapses. Furthermore, we are witness to new evidence on the global burden of foodborne diseases, including non-communicable diseases that range from severe malnutrition to morbid obesity and from severe illnesses requiring hospitalization to mortality. The World Health Organization claims that thirty-one foodborne hazards cause six-hundred million illnesses and four-hundred and twenty thousand deaths annually. Overcoming these challenges requires a holistic reframing of our food systems and societal challenges. The emergence of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides an overarching framework for collaboration and alignment. Japan has put forward a vision for a human-centric, technology-enabled future branded as "Society 5.0". Increasingly, the redesign of FSCs necessitates a concerted, multi-stakeholder effort and the development of digitization strategies in order to cope with the evolution toward the vision of Society 5.0 and to achieve the UN SDGs.

Food systems and food supply chains (FSCs) have undergone significant changes in their operations and structure over the last decade as globalization expands both food choice and availability. As FSCs lengthen, and food passes through extended trading relationships, transparency on food origins, methods of cultivation, harvest, processing as well as labor conditions and sustainability is reduced, along with food trust. Moreover, while the rapid pace of technology innovation benefits FSCs, we are witness to the usage of social media platforms by citizen-consumers to amplify the rhetoric related to recurring incidents and crises in food quality, food safety, food fraud, food security, sustainability, and other ethical lapses. Furthermore, we are witness to new evidence on the global burden of foodborne diseases, including non-communicable diseases that range from severe malnutrition to morbid obesity and from severe illnesses requiring hospitalization to mortality. The World Health Organization claims that thirty-one foodborne hazards cause six-hundred million illnesses and four-hundred and twenty thousand deaths annually. Overcoming these challenges requires a holistic reframing of our food systems and societal challenges. The emergence of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides an overarching framework for collaboration and alignment. Japan has put forward a vision for a human-centric, technology-enabled future branded as "Society 5.0". Increasingly, the redesign of FSCs necessitates a concerted, multi-stakeholder effort and the development of digitization strategies in order to cope with the evolution toward the vision of Society 5.0 and to achieve the UN SDGs.

PR, IFPRI3; ISI; CRP4; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry, A4NH; SAR; MTID, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

This thesis examines three research questions under the framework of Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998). These research questions are organized into three essays. The first essay examines the malleability of regulatory construction of goals. I demonstrate that regulatory construction of a goal is subject to goal distance—the perceived discrepancy between current and desired end state. When goal distance is large, the goal is more likely to be construed as a promotion-focused goal; when goal distance is small, the goal is more likely to be construed as a prevention-focused goal. This effect is mediated by the intensity of anticipated affect (pleasure of goal attainment versus pain of goal failure). The second essay examines a fit between sustainability and a prevention focus. I demonstrate that sustainability claims activate prevention concerns in consumers. Consumers make prevention-focused inferences about products of sustainable companies. Finally, regulatory fit between a sustainable product and prevention-focused product claims leads to enhanced product evaluations. The third essay examines the influence of regulatory focus in sequentially presented choice sets. I demonstrate that regulatory focus influences evaluations of equivalent sequentially presented choice alternatives, the amount of search and choice of option form a sequential set. Prevention-focused individuals defer favorable evaluations until choice options presented later in the sequential set. They perform more search compared to promotion-focused individuals and select an option encountered later in the sequence. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of these essays are discussed.

This thesis examines three research questions under the framework of Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998). These research questions are organized into three essays. The first essay examines the malleability of regulatory construction of goals. I demonstrate that regulatory construction of a goal is subject to goal distance—the perceived discrepancy between current and desired end state. When goal distance is large, the goal is more likely to be construed as a promotion-focused goal; when goal distance is small, the goal is more likely to be construed as a prevention-focused goal. This effect is mediated by the intensity of anticipated affect (pleasure of goal attainment versus pain of goal failure). The second essay examines a fit between sustainability and a prevention focus. I demonstrate that sustainability claims activate prevention concerns in consumers. Consumers make prevention-focused inferences about products of sustainable companies. Finally, regulatory fit between a sustainable product and prevention-focused product claims leads to enhanced product evaluations. The third essay examines the influence of regulatory focus in sequentially presented choice sets. I demonstrate that regulatory focus influences evaluations of equivalent sequentially presented choice alternatives, the amount of search and choice of option form a sequential set. Prevention-focused individuals defer favorable evaluations until choice options presented later in the sequential set. They perform more search compared to promotion-focused individuals and select an option encountered later in the sequence. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of these essays are discussed.

Advertising planning models, such as the FCB Grid, suggest that for products/brands for which attitudes are based primarily on affect, advertisers would be best served by using affective appeals. Conversely, when attitudes are based primarily on utilitarian, cognitive foundations, advertisers should use informative appeals. In the reported field study, we attempt to assess whether advertisers follow this recommendation. We do so by first assessing the bases of attitude for food products, for a sample of French-Canadians. We then content analyze TV advertisements for food, targeted to the same population, and examine the degree to which there is a fit between the attitude bases reported by the consumers and the appeal used to persuade them to buy. Results provide little support to the expected match between advertising content and attitude bases. Our analyses revealed that, for food products, attitudes were primarily based on affect whereas advertisements typically utilized informational appeals. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Advertising planning models, such as the FCB Grid, suggest that for products/brands for which attitudes are based primarily on affect, advertisers would be best served by using affective appeals. Conversely, when attitudes are based primarily on utilitarian, cognitive foundations, advertisers should use informative appeals. In the reported field study, we attempt to assess whether advertisers follow this recommendation. We do so by first assessing the bases of attitude for food products, for a sample of French-Canadians. We then content analyze TV advertisements for food, targeted to the same population, and examine the degree to which there is a fit between the attitude bases reported by the consumers and the appeal used to persuade them to buy. Results provide little support to the expected match between advertising content and attitude bases. Our analyses revealed that, for food products, attitudes were primarily based on affect whereas advertisements typically utilized informational appeals. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Advertising planning models, such as the FCB Grid, suggest that for products/brands for which attitudes are based primarily on affect, advertisers would be best served by using affective appeals. Conversely, when attitudes are based primarily on utilitarian, cognitive foundations, advertisers should use informative appeals. In the reported field study, we attempt to assess whether advertisers follow this recommendation. We do so by first assessing the bases of attitude for food products, for a sample of French-Canadians. We then content analyze TV advertisements for food, targeted to the same population, and examine the degree to which there is a fit between the attitude bases reported by the consumers and the appeal used to persuade them to buy. Results provide little support to the expected match between advertising content and attitude bases. Our analyses revealed that, for food products, attitudes were primarily based on affect whereas advertisements typically utilized informational appeals. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

This paper examines the effects of music on consumers' reactions to waiting for services. An experimental study was conducted to test three different constructs - perceived wait duration, perceived servicescape and emotional state during the wait - as mediators between music and service evaluation. Results of the study show that music ameliorates perceived servicescape and then service evaluation regardless of its valence. Furthermore, positively valenced music triggers a more positive emotional state in consumers during the wait than negatively valenced music. Emotional state during the wait in turn affects positively service evaluation directly and indirectly through perceived servicescape. Although positively valenced music also increases percieved wait duration, the latter does not have a significant effect on service evaluation.

This paper examines the effects of music on consumers' reactions to waiting for services. An experimental study was conducted to test three different constructs - perceived wait duration, perceived servicescape and emotional state during the wait - as mediators between music and service evaluation. Results of the study show that music ameliorates perceived servicescape and then service evaluation regardless of its valence. Furthermore, positively valenced music triggers a more positive emotional state in consumers during the wait than negatively valenced music. Emotional state during the wait in turn affects positively service evaluation directly and indirectly through perceived servicescape. Although positively valenced music also increases percieved wait duration, the latter does not have a significant effect on service evaluation.

This paper examines the effects of music on consumers' reactions to waiting for services. An experimental study was conducted to test three different constructs - perceived wait duration, perceived servicescape and emotional state during the wait - as mediators between music and service evaluation. Results of the study show that music ameliorates perceived servicescape and then service evaluation regardless of its valence. Furthermore, positively valenced music triggers a more positive emotional state in consumers during the wait than negatively valenced music. Emotional state during the wait in turn affects positively service evaluation directly and indirectly through perceived servicescape. Although positively valenced music also increases percieved wait duration, the latter does not have a significant effect on service evaluation.