health halo
n.— «The other half of the Park Slopers were shown the same salad and drink plus two Fortt’s crackers prominently labeled “Trans Fat Free.” The crackers added 100 calories to the meal, bringing it to 1,034 calories, but their presence skewed people’s estimates in the opposite direction. The average estimate for the whole meal was only 835 calories—199 calories less than the actual calorie count, and 176 calories less than the average estimate by the other group for the same meal without crackers. Just as Dr. Chandon had predicted, the trans-fat-free label on the crackers seemed to imbue them with a health halo that magically subtracted calories from the rest of the meal.» —“Health Halo Can Hide the Calories” by John Tierney New York Times Dec. 1, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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