Decoding the Interplay of Front-of-Pack Labels, Price, and Consumer Perceptions: Impact on Food Choices in Korea and Singapore

Overview

The global epidemic of obesity and chronic diseases has led to widespread use of front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels. While existing research has established a link between FOP labels and consumer choices, the interplay between product types, consumer perceptions, and label effectiveness is underexplored. This study examines: 1) whether consumers perceive healthier food item as more expensive when healthiness is less obvious; 2) how FOP labels mediate the relationship among product characteristics, price, and consumer's belief about food healthiness and price on choices; and 3) whether food choice changes given a price, with and without FOP labels, are more prominent for products where the perceived healthiness by consumers significantly differs from label indications. The investigators will conduct experiments with online panelists in Korea and Singapore in two settings: restaurant menus and grocery items. Results will inform more impactful nutritional information policies for healthier food choices and improved population health.

Detailed description

The investigators will conduct experiments in both Korea and Singapore, focusing on two settings with various food items: restaurant menu choices and grocery item selections. For each item, investigators will elicit consumers' prior belief about its healthiness. Our research builds upon the work of Haws et al. (2017), which demonstrated that US consumers tend to overgeneralize their belief about "expensive=healthy" to product categories where it is not true. This tendency potentially biases perceptions of healthy foods. The investigators aim to test this "expensive=healthy" intuition and its impact on food choice, with and without FOP labels, in Asian contexts. The investigators hypothesize that absent FOP labels, consumers will infer healthiness from price information (i.e., this product is expensive, so it must be healthy) and that providing FOP labels will reduce the reliance on this inference. The investigators also hypothesize that such effects of FOP labels are more prominent for products where the perceived healthiness by consumers significantly differs from the healthiness indicated by the labels. When the FOP labels show 'less healthy' for those expensive and perceived as 'healthy' products, consumers will update their prior belief about its healthiness and be more likely to drop the intuition 'expensive=healthiness' in decision-making and respond to a greater extent.

Interventions

• Behavioral Positively framed FOP labels (present versus absent) x Price (high versus low)
  The intervention combines either a front-of-pack (FOP) label that frames high nutrition or no FOP label with price variation. Products are randomly assigned to either receive a positively-framed FOP label or no label, and to either a high or a low price. This yields four experimental arms: 1. Positively framed FOP label with high price 2. Positively framed FOP label with low price 3. No label with high price 4. No label with low price
• Behavioral Graded FOP labels (no label vs. high rating (grade A) vs. low rating (grade D)) x Price (average vs. premium)
  The intervention combines either a graded front-of-pack (FOP) labelling or no FOP labelling with price variation. Products are randomly assigned to either receive a graded label or no label, and to either a premium or an average price. This yields six experimental arms: 1. High grade (A) with premium price 2. Low grade (D) with premium price 3. No label with premium price 4. High grade (A) with average price 5. Low grade (D) with average price 6. No label with average price

Primary outcome measures

• Consumers behavior [Time frame: Participants are expected to complete the online experiment in one sitting (within 24 hours). If they are disconnected from the survey platform, they are allowed up to two attempts to resume, with access to the platform disabled after 48 hours.]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Adults aged 18-65 years residing in Korea
• Adults aged 21-65 years residing in Singapore

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Sequential

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Health services research

Study locations

Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07186270 · 000273

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗