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164 CHAPTER 7 ■ Choose Health in Food Vending Machines

A survey about opinion, satisfaction, and intention to buy was implemented
in collaboration with the Communication and Marketing degree course taught
at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in order to evaluate the con-
sumer attitude about healthy food consumption and purchasing from vending
machines. Items and questions from the questionnaires were evaluated accord-
ing to a seven-point Likert-type scale. The period selected was the first month,
just at the beginning of the Choose Health campaign, and the assigned locations
were university and firms. Respondents were 144 students and 75 workers.
In general, beliefs about healthy food from both students and workers were
similar, even if their purchasing and consumption habits differed somewhat.
Students used this alternative quite often, as a reasonable option to lunchtime,
while workers chose vending machines mainly as an alternative to break time or
during other moments, if strictly necessary, due to lack of time. Concerning the
traditional products delivered through the vending machines, quality as well as
taste and freshness were perceived to be just acceptable, prices not really moder-
ate, and the variety of products offered not satisfactory. These opinions were
tested both at the beginning of the experiment and at the end (as described later).
The “intention to buy” healthy products, measured during the first month,
showed a moderately higher value for students (an average of 5.3) than for
workers (an average of 4.8). Among students, 64.6% noticed the new healthy
products, and 51.6% bought them at least once.
Among workers, a higher percentage (81.3%) noticed the healthy products.
In this case, 54.7% of workers combined their purchase, buying both healthy
and traditional products.
Both students and workers tested the new products, even if they did not
necessarily notice the special sticker. They were satisfied with the healthy op-
tions but hoped to have a wider variety to select from. When choices were di-
rected toward more conventional alternatives, brand names still played a
relevant role. Because purchasing behavior at vending machines could be con-
sidered as a low-involvement action, the selection of known brands or categories
of food resembled more the application of default choice heuristics instead of
real preferences. Past behavior appeared to be a relevant reference point of how
individuals tended to behave.
Six months later, a new survey to verify habit changes was conducted. Beliefs
about the goodness of the Choose Health project reflected a different level of atten-
tion. First, beliefs about quality, taste, and freshness of healthy food were higher
compared to the beliefs expressed toward products at the beginning of the experi-
mentation. It was found that 41.7% of students, as compared to 62.9% of workers,
said they were very familiar with the project and, moreover, that they were aware
that colleagues bought healthy products, too. Information about healthy products