Procedure
The University of Michigan Institutional Review Board termed the study exempt (HUM00186009). Participants answered a question to ensure they were ⩾18 years old and provided informed consent. Participants were next randomly assigned via a randomizer in survey flow to watch video advertisements for highly processed foods, minimally processed foods, both food groups, or cellphones (control).In each condition, participants viewed four 15-second video advertisements back-to-back. Participants were unable to move to the next survey page until 60 seconds passed after clicking play. In the highly processed foods condition, participants viewed commercials for McDonald’s Quarter Pounders©; McDonald’s dipping sauces and McNuggets©; Wendy’s Bacon Deluxe, Baconator, and Bacon and Blue©; and Wendy’s Jr. Frosty©. In the minimally processed foods condition, participants viewed commercials for McDonald’s Fruit and Yogurt Parfait©; McDonald’s Southwest Salad©; Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken Salad©; and Wendy’s Harvest Apple Chicken Salad©. In the both food groups condition, participants viewed commercials for McDonald’s Fruit and Yogurt Parfait©; McDonald’s Quarter Pounders©; Wendy’s Harvest Apple Chicken Salad©; and Wendy’s Jr. Frosty©. In the control condition, participants viewed commercials for cellphones with AT&T Mobile Share©; HTC Aria©; HTC Imagio©; and AT&T Samsung Galaxy©. All commercials focused on the foods/cellphones and did not feature fully visible people interacting with the foods/cellphones (a few showed hands interacting with the foods/cellphones).After watching the video advertisements, participants completed an attention check in which they were asked what kind of advertisements they just watched and then completed the Anticipated Effects of Food Scale. Next, they completed the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 and additional measures in randomized order and answered demographic questions. Participants had the option to select 