Consumers are increasingly being exposed to advertising in which people are represented as machines in an effort to counteract obesity. Due to rapid technological developments, such as deepfakes and AI, and also the coronavirus crisis in which people meet more on-screen, these representations are now being increased. ‘The aim of the human-as-machine metaphor is to encourage healthy and rational eating habits. Our research shows that this approach is effective for people who regard themselves as capable of eating healthily, but it is counterproductive for the group not able to do this,’ says Andrea Weihrauch (Amsterdam Business School, Marketing section), one of the researchers. 

Good fuel

In these advertisements or messages the characteristics of a machine – rational and logical – are compared to the emotional human way of acting. Weihrauch explains: ‘Imagine that your body is a car that you need to maintain well. While people take good care of their machines and appliances, they sometimes take really bad care of their own bodies. That’s the logic behind these advertisements. For example there’s one ad that says: “Your body is a finely tuned vehicle – give it good fuel and it will take you places.” This aims to encourage healthy food by equating it to the right fuel.’

The article, which describes five different studies, took several years to produce. ‘We mostly used experiments, both in the lab and in the field. To give one example, we handed out flyers with one of the tested messages in an American cafeteria and then reported on what the people chose for lunch. Or we used a smart method in the lab, letting people choose what kind of snack they wanted as a reward for taking part in the experiment. The choices were usually obviously healthy, such as carrots, or unhealthy, such as Ben & Jerry’s.’ The studies were carried out in different countries such as the US, the UK and the Netherlands. 

Chocolate cake as consolation

According to Weihrauch the most important insight is that such metaphors affect people more than it is sometimes thought. ‘The people who are exposed to these stimuli assume that they should also behave like a machine. The problem with this is that not everyone thinks that he or she will be able to do this. This triggers a contrary response: “Look, I’m a person and not a machine, so I’m going to eat chocolate cake to console myself.” So the advertisements have a counterproductive effect for people with low self-efficacy.’ One solution for marketers who still want to use this strategy is to clearly reference this fear or inability and to show that someone is actually able to make healthy eating choices. ‘But if this is your target group, then other strategies will probably work better.’

Research data

Andrea Weihrauch and Szu-Chi Huang (2020), ‘Portraying Humans as Machines to Promote Health: Unintended Risks, Mechanisms and Solutions’. In Journal of Marketing.