The Effect of Marketer-Suggested Serving Size on Consumer Responses: The Unintended Consequences of Consumer Attention to Calorie Information

Nutritional labels are mandatory on virtually all packaged food items sold in the United States. The nutritional information on these labels is reported on a “per-serving-size” basis. However, unbeknownst to many consumers, current Food and Drug Administration regulations allow manufacturers some discretion in setting serving sizes—a factor that the authors hypothesize has implications for consumer behavior. For example, adopting a smaller...