Sensory Nudge:

A Literature Review on the Influence of Sensory Factors on Healthy Food Consumption

Abstract

This paper focuses on the impact of marketing-related sensory factors on consumers’ healthy food consumption and reviews relevant studies published in top marketing journals after 2000. We found that the association between sensory factors and healthy food consumption has been of interest in a variety of marketing-related fields, including consumer behavior, advertising, public policy, and retailing. Through the review, we suggest five future research directions for sensory nudging on healthy food consumption: the need to examine non-visual sensory factors, multi/cross-modal sensory effects, cultural differences, the promotion of research in line with real-world food consumption, and the need for more comprehensive and long-term validation of the relationship between healthy eating and sensory marketing.