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Although a Mediterranean diet (MeDiet) provides several psychophysical health benefits, research on how to effectively promote MeDiet adherence is still lacking. In the present study, we tested the effectiveness of a messaging intervention aimed at promoting the adherence to the Mediterranean diet. A total of 435 Italian participants responded to a questionnaire on their eating self-efficacy and adherence to the MeDiet at Time 1. Then, participants were randomly assigned to three different conditions: (a) gain messages focused on the positive outcomes of MeDiet adherence; (b) non-loss messages focused on the avoided negative outcomes associated with MeDiet adherence; (c) no messages (control). After the 2 week intervention, participants answered some questions regarding their perception of threat and distress, evaluation of the messages, and adherence to the MeDiet at Time 2. We also tested whether the messaging intervention influenced participants’ MeDiet adherence at Time 2. Results confirmed that the messaging intervention enhanced the MeDiet adherence (F(2,432) = 4.61; p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.02), with no difference between exposure to gain or non-loss messages (95% LLCI = −0.32; 95% ULCI = 0.54). We then tested whether message framing effectiveness was influenced by eating self-efficacy, and results showed that gain messages were more persuasive for participants with low eating self-efficacy (effect size = 0.01; p for interaction = 0.03). Discussion suggests that tailoring messages according to receivers’ psychological characteristics seems to be pivotal to enhance the persuasiveness of messages aimed at promoting the MeDiet adherence.

Although local food purchasing provides several benefits to both consumers and producers, research on what recommendation messages can effectively promote the purchase of local food is still lacking. In the present study, 410 participants were involved in a 2-week intervention relying on prefactual (i.e., “If … then”) messages promoting the purchase of local food. All messages were sent through a research app to participants’ mobile phones and were focused on environmental consequences of purchasing (or not purchasing) local food. Four experimental conditions involving messages differing as to outcome sensitivity framing (i.e., gain, non-loss, non-gain and loss) were compared to a control condition. To test the effectiveness of the messages, before and after the 2-week intervention participants were involved in a choice task. They were asked to choose among fruits with different provenience, that is, from the participants’ municipality of residence or abroad. Results showed that all message frames increased the selection of local food, compared to control. Furthermore, pro-environmental consumers were more persuaded by messages formulated in terms of gains and non-gains, whereas healthy consumers were more persuaded by messages formulated in terms of losses or non-losses. Discussion focuses on the advantages of tailored communication to promote the purchase of local food.