Food bloggers: A consumer vice for food management

Over one third of American adults follow a specific diet such as paelo, keto or intermittent fasting, and 40% claim to be regular users of food blogs (International Food Information Council Foundation 2018). Food bloggers, many of whom are online influencers, often promote specific diets or restrictive eating plans which may contradict scientific advice on healthy eating. We posit that consumers use food influencers as a vice for controlling and managing their diet. Of interest is how consumers decide which food influencer is an expert, whose advice is credible and trustworthy, and if food posts are entertainment or even counter-productive to health goals. In the present study, results of four experiments found that posts from qualified food bloggers (e.g., registered dietitians), compared with unqualified food bloggers (X), have a more positive impact on healthy eating intentions and behaviors (Y) because their expertise (M1) engenders feelings of trustworthiness (M2) regarding the provided health information (serial mediation model). This pattern only holds for participants of average and high (+1 SD) BMI, not for those with low (-1 SD) BMI. Additionally, the positive effect of qualified food bloggers was most prevalent when post content combined information and motivation, versus just informational or just motivational content.