Drilling Down - Overindulgence in Small Packages

It is a truism of public health that people consume more junk food from large packages than from small ones. In response, food companies have decreased portion sizes and introduced single-serve packages, particularly for foods like ice cream and snack chips that people have usually bought in bulk, deciding on their own what constitutes a proper portion.

But a study in Journal of Consumer Research suggests smaller packages can lead consumers to eat more, by blunting their wariness about how much they consume. In one experiment, students were primed to think about their body shape, then were given potato chips and left to watch television. They ate nearly twice as many chips when given nine small bags as when given two large ones. They also hesitated less before opening the small bags.
The authors took particular aim at “multipacks” of single-serve portions, like the Häagen-Dazs ice cream cups known as “Little Pleasures.” “Consumers may merrily consume the innocently small packages of Little Pleasures at an even higher pace,” they wrote, “leading to over-consumption.”