Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (9/14/2007) -- The Institute for Research in Marketing at the University of Minnesota is pleased to announce that Brian Wansink, author of the best-selling book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, will discuss the influence of advertising and marketing on eating habits on October 24, 2007, from 5:30-6:30 pm in the Carlson School of Management’s 3M Auditorium.
Wansink’s consumer-relevant research, prominently featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, and numerous other national outlets, focuses on the psychology behind what people eat and why they eat it. As the director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, Wansink seeks to help companies develop “win-win” strategies to help people eat more nutritiously and control their food portions. In turn, companies are able to leverage those strategies to build their businesses in a fast-paced, competitive market place.
Performing what The New York Times has called “brilliantly mischievous experiments about the psychology of eating,” Wansink and his team have demonstrated that even those diners who think they are immune to trickery and hidden persuasions can fall prey to emotional and visual cues that are scarcely related to their actual level of hunger. By eating party mix from a larger bucket or slurping soup from a secretly bottomless bowl, test subjects invariably find their portions less substantial and adjust their snacking, and their belts, to fit.
By influencing predictable human behavior to make mindless changes to consumers’ dietary habits, Wansink’s work has led to innovations in the business world in the hope that what’s good for the bottom line can also be good for the waistline. After all, Wansink writes, the best diet is the one you don’t even know you’re on.
A reception will follow the talk. This event is open to the public with a registration fee of $45; current University of Minnesota students may register at no charge. To register, visit http://www.carlsonschool.umn.edu/mindlesseating.
For more information contact 612-626-7940
For more information on the Institute for Research in Marketing, visit us on the web at http://www.carlsonschool.umn.edu/marketinginstitute or contact us at mktginst@umn.edu.
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