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This research examines how consumers ’ food choices differ when healthy items are included in a choice set compared with when they are not available. Results demonstrate that individuals are, ironically, more likely to make indulgent food choices when a healthy item is available compared to when it is not available. The influence of the healthy item on indulgent choice is stronger for those with higher levels of self-control. Support is found for a goal-activation-based explanation for these findings, whereby the mere presence of the healthy food option vicariously fulfills nutrition-related goals and provides consumers with a license to indulge. It is 3:00 p.m. in the office: too late for lunch, too early for dinner. So, you trudge down the hall to the vending machine, where you face an array of unhealthy, yet tasty, chips and cakes alongside some more calorie-conscious choices such as fruit and nutrition bars. As consumers, we frequently find ourselves facing such self-control dilemmas when selecting what to eat. These situations are becoming more familiar as restaurants, event venues, retailers, and other distributors have added healthier options to supplement their typically unhealthy product offerings. Even historically junk-laden venues such as vending machines are following suit, as the world’s largest food-service companies are placing more healthy options in vending arenas, at the same time keeping their number 1–selling, and much less healthy, items like Snickers bars (Yara 2008). “It’s appro-*Keith Wilcox is a doctoral candidate in marketing at Baruch College,
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