Authors : Ajit Gaikwad; Pratik Nagre

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 6 - June

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/4ebz7984

Scribd : https://tinyurl.com/ys64x6p2

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26jun1079

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Abstract : Background: The proliferation of health and wellness influencers on social media has created a Halo Effect where fruit beveragesregardless of actual sugar content- are viewed as inherently healthy. This is particularly problematic in an era of escalating obesity and metabolic disease.  Objective: To measure the extent and determinants of the Halo Effect around fruit juice consumption mediated by health influencers, examining the disparity between perceived and actual nutritional quality among 18-46-year-old social media users.  Methods: 320 adult participants were recruited across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok by means of stratified purposive sampling, completing a cross-sectional quantitative survey using the validated Influencer Health Halo Scale (IHHS), Nutritional Knowledge Inventory (NKI) and Social Media Literacy Scale (SMLS). Descriptives, Pearson correlation, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, multiple linear regression and SEM were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0 and AMOS 29.0.

Keywords : Halo Effect, Health Influencer, Fruit Juice, Social Media Health Marketing, Consumer Behavior.

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