The Power of Packed Design: Visual Density’s Role in Shaping Healthy Food Purchase Intentions

Promoting healthy food consumption is an increasingly urgent public policy priority, given the rising prevalence of diet-related health issues such as obesity and chronic diseases. Prior research on healthy food has mainly focused on single packaging visual elements (e.g., color, material, or label style), while paying less attention to the interactive effects among multiple elements, namely visual density, which can influence consumers’ healthy food purchase intentions and, in turn, their dietary choices. This study investigates how visual density affects consumers' purchase intentions for healthy foods. Across three experiments and two supplementary experiments, results consistently demonstrate that high visual density increases purchase intentions compared to low visual density. This effect is mediated by perceived product efficacy. Additionally, nutrition labeling salience moderates this relationship: when nutrition labeling is prominent, the effect of visual density on purchase intentions diminishes. These findings suggest that packaging design regulations, alongside nutrition labeling policies, can jointly influence consumer behavior toward healthier choices. Implications for policy interventions aiming to improve public health outcomes through packaging design strategies are discussed.