Public acceptability of nudging and taxing to reduce consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and food: A population-based survey experiment

Social Science and Medicine

Volumn 236, Issue , 2019, Pages

  Reynolds, J P ^a   Archer, S ^a   Pilling, M ^a   Kenny, M ^a   Hollands, G J ^a   Marteau, T M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Attitudes; Choice architecture; Communication; Drinking; England; Obesity; Smoking; Tax

Indexed keywords

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE; COMMUNICATION; DRINKING; FOOD; OBESITY; PUBLIC ATTITUDE; SMOKING; SURVEY; TAX REFORM; TOBACCO;

ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION; ARTICLE; CALORIC INTAKE; CONTROLLED STUDY; EDUCATIONAL STATUS; FEMALE; FOOD INTAKE; GENDER; HUMAN; INDICES OF MULTIPLE DEPRIVATION; INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION; MALE; POLICY; POPULATION RESEARCH; PREDICTOR VARIABLE; SMOKING; SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; SOCIAL CLASS; SOCIOECONOMICS; TAX; TOBACCO CONSUMPTION; TOBACCO USE; DECISION MAKING; DIET; DRINKING BEHAVIOR; FOOD; HEALTH CARE POLICY; PREVENTION AND CONTROL; QUESTIONNAIRE;

ENGLAND; UNITED KINGDOM;

NICOTIANA TABACUM;

ALCOHOL DRINKING; CHOICE BEHAVIOR; COMMUNICATION; DIET; FEMALE; FOOD; HEALTH POLICY; HUMANS; MALE; SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES; TAXES; TOBACCO USE;

EID: 85069467467     PISSN: 02779536     EISSN: 18735347     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112395     Document Type: Article

References (62)

1. Berry, D.C., Hochhauser, M., Verbal labels can triple perceived risk in clinical trials. Drug Inf. J. 40:3 (2006), 249–258 https://doi.org/10.1177/009286150604000302.
2. Bos, C., Lans, I.V., Van Rijnsoever, F., Van Trijp, H., Consumer acceptance of population-level intervention strategies for healthy food choices: the role of perceived effectiveness and perceived fairness. Nutrients 7:9 (2015), 7842–7862 https://doi.org/10.3390/nu7095370.
3. Brick, C., Freeman, A., Wooding, S., Skylark, W., Marteau, T., Spiegelhalter, D., Winners and losers: communicating the potential impacts of policies. Palgrave Commun., 4, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0121-9.
4. Cairney, P., The role of ideas in policy transfer: the case of UK smoking bans since devolution. J. Eur. Public Policy 16:3 (2009), 471–488 https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760802684718.
5. Chan, M.S., Jones, C.R., Hall Jamieson, K., Albarracín, D., Debunking: a meta-analysis of the psychological efficacy of messages countering misinformation. Psychol. Sci. 28:11 (2017), 1531–1546 https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617714579.
6. Crockett, R.A., King, S.E., Marteau, T.M., Prevost, A.T., Bignardi, G., Roberts, N.W., Jebb, S.A., Nutritional labelling for healthier food or non‐alcoholic drink purchasing and consumption. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev., 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009315.pub2.
7. Cullerton, K., Donnet, T., Lee, A., Gallegos, D., Playing the policy game: a review of the barriers to and enablers of nutrition policy change. Publ. Health Nutr. 19:14 (2016), 2643–2653 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980016000677.
8. Cullerton, K., Donnet, T., Lee, A., Gallegos, D., Effective advocacy strategies for influencing government nutrition policy: a conceptual model. Int. J. Behav. Nutr. Phys. Act., 15(1), 2018, 83 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-018-0716-y.
9. Diepeveen, S., Ling, T., Suhrcke, M., Roland, M., Marteau, T.M., Public acceptability of government intervention to change health-related behaviours: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 2013, 756 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-756.
10. Donaldson, E., Advocating for sugar-sweetened beverage taxation. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.org/program/public-health/obesity-prevention/#overview, 2015.
11. Druckman, J.N., McGrath, M.C., The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation. Nat. Clim. Change 9 (2019), 111–119 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0360-1.
12. Freudenberg, N., Lethal but Legal: Corporations, Consumption, and Protecting Public Health. 2014, Oxford University Press.
13. Gilead, M., Sela, M., Maril, A., That's my truth: evidence for involuntary opinion confirmation. Soc. Psychol. Personal. Sci., 2018, 1–9 https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618762300.
14. Hagmann, D., Siegrist, M., Hartmann, C., Taxes, labels, or nudges? Public acceptance of various interventions designed to reduce sugar intake. Food Policy 79 (2018), 156–165 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.06.008.
15. Hollands, G.J., Bignardi, G., Johnston, M., Kelly, M.P., Ogilvie, D., Petticrew, M., Marteau, T.M., The TIPPME intervention typology for changing environments to change behaviour. Nat. Hum. Behav., 1(8), 2017, 0140 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0140.
16. Hollands, G.J., Carter, P., Anwer, S., King, S.E., Jebb, S.A., Ogilvie, D., Marteau, T.M., Altering the availability or proximity of food, alcohol and tobacco products to change their selection and consumption. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev., 2017, CD012573 (Under review).
17. Hollands, G.J., Shemilt, I., Marteau, T.M., Jebb, S.A., Lewis, H.B., Wei, Y., Ogilvie, D., Portion, package or tableware size for changing selection and consumption of food, alcohol and tobacco. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev., 9, 2015 https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011045.pub2.
18. Howarth, D., Marteau, T., Coutts, A., Huppert, J., Pinto, P.R., What do the British public think of inequality in health, wealth, and power?. Soc. Sci. Med. 222 (2019), 198–206 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.006.
19. Lally, P., Bartle, N., Wardle, J., Social norms and diet in adolescents. Appetite 57:3 (2011), 623–627 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2011.07.015.
20. Li, J., Lovatt, M., Eadie, D., Dobbie, F., Meier, P., Holmes, J., MacKintosh, A.M., Public attitudes towards alcohol control policies in Scotland and England: results from a mixed-methods study. Soc. Sci. Med. 177 (2017), 177–189 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.037.
21. Lim, S.S., Vos, T., Flaxman, A.D., Danaei, G., Shibuya, K., Adair-Rohani, H., Andrews, K.G., A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The Lancet 380:9859 (2012), 2224–2260 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61766-8.
22. Luszczynska, A., Horodyska, K., Zarychta, K., Liszewska, N., Knoll, N., Scholz, U., Planning and self-efficacy interventions encouraging replacing energy-dense foods intake with fruit and vegetable: a longitudinal experimental study. Psychol. Health 31:1 (2016), 40–64 https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2015.1070156.
23. Marteau, T.M., Hollands, G.J., Fletcher, P.C., Changing human behavior to prevent disease: the importance of targeting automatic processes. Science 337:6101 (2012), 1492–1495 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1226918.
24. Marten, R., Kadandale, S., Butler, J., Aguayo, V.M., Axelrod, S., Banatvala, N., Casswell, S., Sugar, tobacco, and alcohol taxes to achieve the SDGs. The Lancet 391 (2018), 2400–2401 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31219-4.
25. Mattila, A.S., Cranage, D., The impact of choice on fairness in the context of service recovery. J. Serv. Mark. 19:5 (2005), 271–279 https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040510609899.
26. Mazzocchi, M., Cagnone, S., Bech-Larsen, T., Niedzwiedzka, B., Saba, A., Shankar, B., Traill, W.B., What is the public appetite for healthy eating policies? Evidence from a cross-European survey. Health Econ. Policy Law 10:3 (2015), 267–292 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744133114000346.
27. McGinty, E.E., Webster, D.W., Barry, C.L., Effects of news media messages about mass shootings on attitudes toward persons with serious mental illness and public support for gun control policies. Am. J. Psychiatry 170:5 (2013), 494–501 https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13010014.
28. McGowan, J.G., Petticrew, M., Rutter, H., Pearson-Stuttard, J., White, M., Marteau, T.M., Changing Behaviour for a Healthier Population. 2018 (Retrieved from).
29. McGuinness, F., Deprivation in English Constituencies, 2015. 2015 Retrieved from https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7327#fullreport.
30. Moher, D., Hopewell, S., Schulz, K.F., Montori, V., Gøtzsche, P.C., Devereaux, P., Altman, D.G., CONSORT 2010 explanation and elaboration: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials. J. Clin. Epidemiol. 63:8 (2010), e1–e37 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.03.004.
31. Ng, M., Freeman, M.K., Fleming, T.D., Robinson, M., Dwyer-Lindgren, L., Thomson, B., Lopez, A.D., Smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption in 187 countries, 1980-2012. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 311:2 (2014), 183–192 https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2013.284692.
32. Ngo, A., Cheng, K.-W., Shang, C., Huang, J., Chaloupka, F.J., Global evidence on the association between cigarette graphic warning labels and cigarette smoking prevalence and consumption. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 15:3 (2018), 421–430 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030421.
33. Nickerson, R.S., Confirmation bias: a ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Rev. Gen. Psychol. 2:2 (1998), 175–220 https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.2.175.
34. Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Public Health: Ethical Issues. 2007, Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
35. Nyhan, B., Reifler, J., Does correcting myths about the flu vaccine work? An experimental evaluation of the effects of corrective information. Vaccine 33:3 (2015), 459–464 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.11.017.
36. Pechey, R., Burge, P., Mentzakis, E., Suhrcke, M., Marteau, T.M., Public acceptability of population-level interventions to reduce alcohol consumption: a discrete choice experiment. Soc. Sci. Med. 113 (2014), 104–109 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.05.010.
37. Pechey, R., Cartwright, E., Pilling, M., Hollands, G.J., Vasiljevic, M., Jebb, S.A., Marteau, T.M., Impact of increasing the proportion of healthier foods available on energy purchased in worksite cafeterias: a stepped wedge randomized controlled pilot trial. Appetite 133 (2019), 286–296 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.11.013.
38. Petrescu, D.C., Hollands, G.J., Couturier, D.L., Ng, Y.L., Marteau, T.M., Public acceptability in the UK and USA of nudging to reduce obesity: the example of reducing sugar-sweetened beverages consumption. PLoS One, 11(6), 2016, e0155995 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155995.
39. Promberger, M., Dolan, P., Marteau, T.M., “Pay them if it works”: discrete choice experiments on the acceptability of financial incentives to change health related behaviour. Soc. Sci. Med. 75:12 (2012), 2509–2514 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.09.033.
40. Reisch, L.A., Sunstein, C.R., Gwozdz, W., Viewpoint: beyond carrots and sticks: Europeans support health nudges. Food Policy 69 (2017), 1–10 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2017.01.007.
41. Reynolds, J.P., Pilling, M., Marteau, T.M., Communicating quantitative evidence of policy effectiveness and support for the policy: three experimental studies. Soc. Sci. Med. 218 (2018), 1–12 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.09.037.
42. Reynolds, J.P., Stautz, K., Pilling, M., van der Linden, S., Marteau, T.M., Communicating the Effectiveness and Ineffectiveness of Government Policies and its Impact on Public Support: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. 2018 (Under review).
43. Roache, S.A., Gostin, L.O., The untapped power of soda taxes: incentivizing consumers, generating revenue, and altering corporate behavior. Int. J. Health Policy Manag. 6:9 (2017), 489–493 https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2017.69.
44. Roache, S.A., Gostin, L.O., Tapping the power of soda taxes: a call for multidisciplinary research and broad-based advocacy coalitions–A response to the recent commentaries. Int. J. Health Policy Manag. 7:7 (2018), 674–676 https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2018.30.
45. Schuitema, G., Steg, L., van Kruining, M., When are transport pricing policies fair and acceptable?. Soc. Justice Res. 24:1 (2011), 66–84 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-011-0124-9.
46. Sekhon, M., Cartwright, M., Francis, J.J., Acceptability of healthcare interventions: an overview of reviews and development of a theoretical framework. BMC Health Serv. Res., 17(1), 2017, 88 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2031-8.
47. Shultz, T.R., Lepper, M.R., Cognitive dissonance reduction as constraint satisfaction. Psychol. Rev., 103(2), 1996, 219240 https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.103.2.219.
48. Silver, L.D., Ng, S.W., Ryan-Ibarra, S., Taillie, L.S., Induni, M., Miles, D.R., Popkin, B.M., Changes in prices, sales, consumer spending, and beverage consumption one year after a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Berkeley, California, US: a before-and-after study. PLoS Med., 14(4), 2017, e1002283 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002283.
49. Smith, K., Beyond Evidence Based Policy in Public Health: the Interplay of Ideas. 2013, Springer.
50. Somerville, C., Marteau, T.M., Kinmonth, A.L., Cohn, S., Public attitudes towards pricing policies to change health-related behaviours: a UK focus group study. Eur. J. Public Health 25:6 (2015), 1058–1064 https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckv077.
51. Spiegelhalter, D., Risk and uncertainty communication. Annu. Rev. Stat. Appl. 4:1 (2017), 31–60 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-statistics-010814-020148.
52. Steel, N., Ford, J.A., Newton, J.N., Davis, A.C., Vos, T., Naghavi, M., Stockton, D., Changes in Health in the Countries of the UK and 150 English Local Authority Areas 1990–2016: a Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. 2018, The Lancet, 1647–1661 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32207-4.
53. Storvoll, E.E., Moan, I.S., Rise, J., Predicting attitudes toward a restrictive alcohol policy: using a model of distal and proximal predictors. Psychol. Addict. Behav. 29:2 (2015), 492–499 https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000036.
54. Sunstein, C.R., Reisch, L.A., Kaiser, M., Trusting nudges? Lessons from an international survey. J. Eur. Public Policy, 2018, 1–27 https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2018.1531912.
55. Sunstein, C.R., Reisch, L.A., Rauber, J., A worldwide consensus on nudging? Not quite, but almost. Regul. Gov. 12:1 (2018), 3–22 https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12161.
56. Swinburn, B.A., Kraak, V.I., Allender, S., Atkins, V.J., Baker, P.I., Bogard, J.R., Devarajan, R., The global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change: the Lancet Commission report. The Lancet 393:10173 (2019), 791–846 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32822-8.
57. Thaler, R., Sunstein, C.R., Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. 2008, Yale University Press.
58. Thomas-Meyer, M., Mytton, O., Adams, J., Public responses to proposals for a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages: a thematic analysis of online reader comments posted on major UK news websites. PLoS One, 12(11), 2017, e0186750 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186750.
59. Visschers, V.H., Meertens, R.M., Passchier, W.W., De Vries, N.N., Probability information in risk communication: a review of the research literature. Risk Anal.: Int. J. 29:2 (2009), 267–287 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2008.01137.x.
60. Waldron, J., Rights and majorities: rousseau revisited. Nomos 32 (1990), 44–75.
61. Wardle, J., Haase, A.M., Steptoe, A., Nillapun, M., Jonwutiwes, K., Bellisie, F., Gender differences in food choice: the contribution of health beliefs and dieting. Ann. Behav. Med. 27:2 (2004), 107–116 https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324796abm2702_5.
62. Whiteford, H.A., Degenhardt, L., Rehm, J., Baxter, A.J., Ferrari, A.J., Erskine, H.E., Johns, N., Global burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use disorders: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The Lancet 382:9904 (2013), 1575–1586 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61611-6.