A perspective piece co-authored by Susan Babey, a Center senior research scientist, that suggests that the prominent placement of unhealthy food items in stores contributes to chronic health problems like obesity.​

"A basic misconception has stymied our response to the obesity epidemic: the belief that food-related decisions are consciously and deliberately made. Our reluctance to interfere with or regulate the food environment is a direct consequence of the belief that people's food choices reflect their true desires. However, given the large proportion of people who claim that they want to lose weight and the small proportion who are actually able to do so, we must concede that human behavior doesn't always conform with professed goals. 

The reality is that food choices are often automatic and made without full conscious awareness. In many cases, they may even be the opposite of what the person deciding would consciously prefer. What and how much people eat are highly influenced by contextual factors that they may not recognize and therefore cannot easily resist. A clear example of this influence is the placement of candy at the cash register, which is widely acknowledged to be a promotional strategy called 'impulse marketing.' Impulse marketing encourages spur-of-the-moment, emotion-related purchases that are triggered by seeing the product or a related message."