TY - JOUR
T1 - Consumer effects of front-of-package nutrition labeling
T2 - an interdisciplinary meta-analysis
AU - Ikonen, Iina
AU - Sotgiu, Francesca
AU - Aydinli, Aylin
AU - Verlegh, Peeter W.J.
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - As consumers continue to struggle with issues related to unhealthy consumption, the goal of front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels is to provide nutrition information in more understandable formats. The marketplace is filled with different FOP labels, but their true effects remain unclear, as does which label works best to change perceptions and behaviors. We address these issues through an interdisciplinary meta-analysis, generalizing the findings of 114 articles on the impact of FOP labels on outcomes such as consumers’ ability to identify healthier options, product perceptions, purchase behavior, and consumption. The results show that, although FOP labels help consumers to identify healthier products, their ability to nudge consumers toward healthier choices is more limited. Importantly, FOP labels may lead to halo effects, positively influencing not only virtue but also vice products, e.g., interpretive nutrient-specific labels improve health perceptions of both vice and virtue products, yet they influence only the purchase intention of virtues.
AB - As consumers continue to struggle with issues related to unhealthy consumption, the goal of front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels is to provide nutrition information in more understandable formats. The marketplace is filled with different FOP labels, but their true effects remain unclear, as does which label works best to change perceptions and behaviors. We address these issues through an interdisciplinary meta-analysis, generalizing the findings of 114 articles on the impact of FOP labels on outcomes such as consumers’ ability to identify healthier options, product perceptions, purchase behavior, and consumption. The results show that, although FOP labels help consumers to identify healthier products, their ability to nudge consumers toward healthier choices is more limited. Importantly, FOP labels may lead to halo effects, positively influencing not only virtue but also vice products, e.g., interpretive nutrient-specific labels improve health perceptions of both vice and virtue products, yet they influence only the purchase intention of virtues.
KW - Food marketing
KW - Front-of-package labeling
KW - Packaging
KW - Public health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066025412&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85066025412&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11747-019-00663-9
DO - 10.1007/s11747-019-00663-9
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85066025412
VL - 48
SP - 360
EP - 383
JO - Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
JF - Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
SN - 0092-0703
IS - 3
ER -