Can Digital Signage Help Consumers Eat Healthier?

Digital signage has become prevalent in public spaces, but consumers are faced with many choices from various displays with the result that consumers often ignore important information. To “recover” customer attention, various retailers have recently begun to deploy dynamic digital menu boards, which are plasma screens that combine the power of video with multimedia content. We examine the effect of these boards on healthy eating, a topic that has been on the national agenda for some time as Americans struggle with obesity. The introduction of a specialized form of dynamic digital menu boards in fast food restaurants has the potential to increase unhealthy eating if retailers were to use them to “upsell” consumers to higher margin but less healthy menu items. By the same token, these boards could also be used to influence consumers to make healthier food choices resulting in benefits to the consumer and society.