Global obesity rates have tripled since 1975, with sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) strongly linked to obesity and related health issues. Childhood obesity has risen even more sharply, with vulnerable and low-income populations disproportionately affected. Targeted marketing of sugar-sweetened beverages further exacerbates health disparities in these groups. Behavioral health interventions at the point of purchase, play a pivotal role in shaping consumer choices, but can also create opportunities to reduce SSB consumption. This second funding period of the Ö01 project will analyse the phenomenon of point-of-purchase dynamics within supermarket settings and the gamification of nutrition behaviour in everyday life. For example, in a supermarket context, behaviorally informed interventions can redesign the store layout to make unhealthy foods and SSBs appear less available, while making healthy choices more apparent. Here, targeting vulnerable consumers, we survey the readiness to change SSB consumption, adding psychological factors such as perceived costs and benefits of reducing SSB intake, social influences, and self-efficacy. Exposing vulnerable consumers to a lab-supermarket setting in Bonn, we will implement and test interventions to influence purchasing decisions. Our toolkit of interventions includes choice architecture, price discounts, and gamification strategies like sensory challenges and app-based tracking. Thereby we intend to reveal attitudes, consumption patterns, and behavioral readiness to change within these target groups. With this knowledge, we will propose behavioral interventions that may guide a reduction in SSB purchases to complement the effectiveness of classic health policies.

‍