Cardboard doctors and nurses boosted sales of fruit

Lifesize cardboard cutouts of doctors and nurses in a supermarket caused a spike in sales of fruit, a study found. Customers bought more fresh, frozen and canned fruit during a five-week trial at a Morrisons’ store in Salford, Manchester, according to researchers.

In the first study of its kind in the UK, the lifesize images of real doctors and nurses who work in the area were positioned in the supermarket together with Let’s Shop Healthier messages inside and outside the shop.
The study by the National Obesity Forum found that over a 15-week period, volume sales of fresh fruit in the store were 20 per cent higher, while frozen fruit sales were up by 29 per cent and canned fruit purchases were up by 5 per cent.