diff --git a/lib/response.js b/lib/response.js
index 6c663a756..acd198d81 100644
--- a/lib/response.js
+++ b/lib/response.js
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ module.exports = {
 
     // json
     this.remove('Content-Length');
-    this.type = 'json';
+    if (setType) this.type = 'json';
   },
 
   /**
diff --git a/test/response/body.js b/test/response/body.js
index 1dfcac55e..c2dfadbdf 100644
--- a/test/response/body.js
+++ b/test/response/body.js
@@ -15,14 +15,14 @@ describe('res.body=', () => {
     });
 
     describe('when body is an object', () => {
-      it('should override as json', () => {
+      it('should not override as json', () => {
         const res = response();
 
         res.body = '<em>hey</em>';
         assert.equal('text/html; charset=utf-8', res.header['content-type']);
 
         res.body = { foo: 'bar' };
-        assert.equal('application/json; charset=utf-8', res.header['content-type']);
+        assert.equal('text/html; charset=utf-8', res.header['content-type']);
       });
     });