Information Cascades Low-Fat Health Craze
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2117898?seq=5#metadata_info_tab_contents
This article from the American Economic Association examines the effect of advertising on American consumption of fat and saturated fat. The article discusses how existing scientific literature emerged in the 1960s detailing links between fat consumption and heart disease, and this information at the time was conveyed through the media and government. Despite this published connection, food manufacturers and companies were prohibited from advertising any link between health conditions and nutritional information. Following the removal of the ban in 1985, food producers began to release and advertise health claims about a low-fat diet.
The data presented by the article on fat consumption comes from the USDA Nation Food Consumption Surveys. This graph showing the mean consumption of fat and saturated fat displays a more pronounced decline of fat consumption following 1985, the year that producers began to advertise health claims. The article asserts that while the government and media sources were more likely to reach people of higher education, advertisements had a stronger effect on consumer behavior due to more effectively reaching the general population.
In class, we have discussed the concept of an information cascade: a situation where individuals’ behavior is influenced by the actions or choices of others, regardless of the each person’s individual information. In this situation surrounding diet and nutrition choices, the AEA claims that an information cascade occurred within consumers that resulted in a lower mean consumption of fat and saturated fat.