The differential effects of viewing short-form online culinary videos of fruits and vegetables versus sweet snacks on adolescents’ appetites

Social media culinary videos are a prominent feature across various social media platforms and constitute one of many media platforms that expose audiences to food. Given that there is a link between exposure to food content through food media and nutrient intake, our study aimed to investigate the effects of exposure to social media culinary videos on adolescents’ appetites. We conducted a pre- and posttest study with 126 middle school children (M_age = 13.9, SD = 1.2). Participants saw a social media culinary video either demonstrating the preparation of a sweet snack (n = 50) or a fruit and vegetable snack (n = 76). As dependent variables, we examined hunger, general desire to eat, liking of the foods portrayed, intentions to eat and prepare the portrayed foods, and actual food choice behavior. The findings showed that the videos had no effects on hunger or general desire to eat but influenced food choice behavior, liking of the foods, and intentions to eat and prepare the foods portrayed. The sweet snacks video reduced the liking of fruits and vegetables and indirectly reduced the odds of choosing a fruit over a cookie, through intentions to eat sweet snacks. The fruits and vegetables video reduced the liking of sweet snacks and resulted in higher intentions to prepare healthy snacks. In conclusion, a single exposure to short-form culinary videos had effects on various food-related outcomes. While the positive effects of the fruits and vegetable video frame these videos as potential platforms to stimulate healthy eating and food preparation, the effects of the sweet snacks video warn of negative influences. Further research on prolonged repetitive exposure is warranted.