Does visibility matter? - A simple nudge reduces the purchase of sugar sweetened beverages in canteen drink coolers

Obesity is a growing public health problem and the increased prevalence calls for preventive measures. Choice architecture and dual brain process thinking has been suggested as a promising strategy. One of the behaviors that are of significant public health nutrition concern is the intake of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB's) of young people. An intervention was developed for 4 canteens for students (age 16–23) of vocational schools. We slightly re-arranged the location of SSB's in drink coolers by reducing visibility. The canteen managers collected data on sales volumes of beverages in combination over a period of 3 weeks and the data collection was supplemented with interviews and observations. The results showed that the intervention was able to reduce the purchasing of SSB in three of the four canteens. In one of the canteens where the cooler was behind the cafeteria desk there were little difference. It is assumed to be due to the fact that the students could not see the cooler while standing in line. The results suggests that rethinking of the canteen interior and physical food environment has the potential to affect purchasing of SSB.