Impact of health-related claims on the perception of other product attributes

New EU legislation (EU Regulation 1924/2006) will allow a number of nutrition and health claims in food products. The objective of this research was to study how health claims affect consumers’ perception of other product attributes. A survey with a total of 4612 respondents from the Nordic countries explored consumers’ perceptions of attractiveness, healthiness, naturalness, tastiness and ability to reduce risk of disease by comparing ratings of products with and without health claims. Used claims varied in their benefit, active ingredient, claim structure and framing. The results showed that health claims had a moderate but mostly negative impact on the perception of other product attributes; the most significant impact was decrease in perceived naturalness. Consumers could also interpret the benefits in claims as intended. The wording of the claim had only small impact on the perception of the products, whereas earlier market presence of the ingredient had a large impact: differences among the Nordic countries reflected the previous exposure to health claims. The findings from this study suggest that consumers do not imply other health benefits from health claims and the health claim per se is not likely to cause any unrealistic positive inferences in perceived product quality.     

Health claims and consumers’ behavioral intentions: The case of soy-based food

This research evaluates the impact of two soy-specific health claims (highlighting FDA approval along with scientific results and simply describing scientific results) on stated behavioral intentions toward soy-based food using a survey administered by Ipsos-Observer to a nationally representative web panel in the summer of 2007. Our research design randomly assigned respondents to a health claim. Three ordered probit models (non-soy users; infrequent soy users; regular soy users) show that non-soy users and infrequent soy users who were exposed to either FDA health claim or general health claim are significantly more likely to eat soy-based food products. FDA or general health claim, however, did not change the behavioral intentions of regular soy users. These results suggest that soy consumption status moderates the impacts of health claims on behavioral intentions. However, the impact of FDA health claim did not differ from that of general health claim, indicating that the word ‘FDA’ did not add any additional information to consumers beyond the general health claim.     

Detecting Buyer Preferences to Guide Product Development and Advertising

If you could tell which product characteristics consumers would prefer, product development could be targeted sharply and positioning the product competitively could be done with more confidence. This article describes one approach by which a relatively large set of test products is evaluated by consumers in order to identify the most acceptable combination of product attributes. Identification of this combination provides the product developer with guidelines as to which test product should be selected for subsequent introduction. The focus is on the discovery of discernible attributes of a product in a fragmented category to support the advertising claim.     

Value of parsimonious nutritional information in a framed field experiment

This study investigates consumers’ beliefs about the tastiness and healthiness of 173 food items in a framed field experiment designed to mirror a grocery shopping environment. Using data collected from 129 food shoppers in Grenoble, France, demand models are estimated to determine how product choice is affected by price, taste, and perceived healthiness, and how choices change with the provision of objective health information. Unlike previous studies focusing on relatively complex nutrition labels, we elicit and convey health information using simple nutritional indices meant to lower search and cognitive processing costs. The results indicate that consumers are willing to pay for tastier foods and for healthier foods, particularly if the consumers have objective information (as opposed to perceived, subjective information) on nutrient content. The estimates suggest that the value of the type of nutritional information provided in the experiment is €0.98 per day. The figure refers to the daily welfare benefits that arise from being able to make a set of choices that better reflect people’s preferences by receiving the nutrient index information on all 173 food items versus not having such information.     

Australian consumer attitudes to health claim – food product compatibility for functional foods

This study with Australian consumers investigated how appealing different health claims combined with particular food carriers were to Australian consumers, and compared the results of a similar study with Dutch consumers. 149 shoppers considered up to 30 different food concepts, rating how ‘attractive’, ‘believable’, and ‘new and different’ they found each concept and their ‘intention to try’. Each variable was significantly related to intention to try (p < 0.001) and together explained 56% of the intention score. Claims and carriers independently had a significant effect on ratings of attractiveness and intention to try but, unlike the Dutch study, the carrier was a more important predictor of intention to purchase than the claim. Implications for regulation of health claims for food are discussed.     

Genetically modified food labeling: The impacts of message and messenger on consumer perceptions of labels and products

We analyze responses to a survey designed to elicit consumer reaction to various approaches to labeling genetically modified (GM) foods. Consumers were shown sample labels that differed with respect to claims concerning the presence and potential effects of GM ingredients and the agency that certified these claims. A sample of 1898 US consumers rated 3681 labels with regard to the credibility and adequacy of the information content, with regard to perceived health and environmental impacts of the product and with regard to purchase intent. Simple claims that a product contains GM ingredients are viewed as most credible while simple claims of no GM content are viewed as most adequate. Label claims certified by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are, in general, viewed as most credible and adequate and products with FDA certified claims are perceived to have fewer long-term health problems. Several practical policy implications of the results are discussed, including how different label messages may impact consumer reactions in markets involving GM products.     

Health information and consumer learning in the bottled water market

This paper examines the impact of health information in different media outlets on bottled water consumption through consumer learning. We develop a random coefficient discrete choice model with Bayesian learning process to capture consumers’ learning of health information and changes in their beverage choices over time. Consumers are assumed to have initial prior beliefs about the health effect of different beverages and to update their beliefs using health information received from different media types. Empirical results show that consumers’ perceived quality of bottled water kept increasing during our sample period, and this learning process accounted for 24.44% of the industry’s revenue, which is about 4.8 billion dollars per year. Comparing the effectiveness of different media outlets, we find that the sales impact of traditional media (TV and radio) is greater than online sources. Our findings highlight the contribution of health information to the bottled water industry and provide policy makers with a new direction to reduce high-calorie food consumption and improve public health.     

Analogies and Mental Simulations in Learning for Really New Products: The Role of Visual Attention

Really new products (RNPs) create new product categories or at least significantly expand existing ones. The development of RNPs is a strategic priority for most companies. However, 40% to 90% of new products fail, often due to consumers' lack of understanding of product features and benefits. Learning strategies, such as analogical learning and mental simulation, can help consumers understand the benefits of RNPs and thus may contribute to the successful development of marketing campaigns. Moreover, the presentation format of marketing communications is likely to influence consumers' understanding of the product. Pictorials have the potential to convey novel information without overloading the decision maker and thus may be a more efficient way to present information about RNPs than words. This paper contributes to a better understanding of consumer information processing in learning for RNPs. Study 1 examined the impact of (1) learning strategies (analogical learning vs. mental simulation) and (2) presentation formats (words vs. pictures) on product comprehension. Study 2 used an eye‐tracking experiment to assess how respondents' visual attention patterns may affect product comprehension. Study 1 showed that the use of words in marketing communications for RNPs is generally more effective to enhance product comprehension than the use of pictorials. However, the video glasses were a notable exception as the combination of mental simulation and pictures yielded a high comprehension level for this product. This suggests that the use of pictorials may be appropriate to convey information for products of a more hedonic as opposed to utilitarian nature. Study 2 used a combination of eye‐tracking measures and self‐reports to help illuminate the cognitive processes at work when consumers learn new product information. The results suggest that an increase in attention to an element of the advert can account for one of two underlying processes: (1) an increase in comprehension; or (2) a difficulty to understand product information which may result in consumer confusion. This study adds evidence to a growing body of literature that demonstrates the power of learning strategies such as mental simulation and analogical learning in preparing consumers for new product acceptance. The use of visual stimuli contributes to the debate on the effectiveness of words versus pictures, seldom applied in a new product development (NPD) context. These findings are integrated into a discussion of the managerial implications and the potential avenues for future research in the area.     

Does nutrition information on food products lead to healthier food choices?

This paper examines the link between nutrition label use and consumers’ healthier food choices. Label use is considered for the two main types of labels currently found on food products; nutrition facts panels and nutrition/health claims. This link is tested using a three-equation multivariate probit model. Data were obtained from an ad hoc survey conducted in two medium-sized Spanish cities. The results indicate that the use of nutrition information by consumers, whether this involves the fact panel or the claim labels, does influence consumer choice of healthier food products to the same extent, although different types of consumers use the various types of labels considered.     

Do firms leverage the FDA nutrient label rounding rules to generate favorable nutrition fact panels or health claims?

The increasing incidence of nutrition related health concerns has made food labeling an important policy issue. Previous work suggests the importance of communicating nutrition information to consumers through product packaging. This paper investigates the role of labeling guidelines, which allow the rounding of calorie and nutrient levels on nutrition fact panels and affects front of package claims. We examine ready-to-eat cereal products as a bundle of nutrient attributes, and estimate the likelihood and magnitude of the rounding of specific nutrients and calories. We find systematic rounding, both up and down, of several nutrients, which affects allowable health claims and may influence consumer product choice and health outcomes.     

The evolution of language complexity in qualified health claims

In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has oversight for qualified health claims (QHCs). These claims emerged as the result of a legal dispute about commercial speech rights on dietary supplements and food products. The initial court ruling allowed manufacturers to include diet–disease information on packaging, when supporting evidence does not meet the traditional threshold of Significant Scientific Agreement. QHCs communicate about a potential health benefit of the consumption of a food or supplement, and due to their nature, are required to specify the balance of evidence behind the diet–disease relationships. As a result, the language contained in QHCs is complex, making them difficult for consumers to understand. The language has been further complicated by a continuing series of court challenges about how scientific evidence is described in QHCs. To understand the evolution of QHC language, we review the progression of court rulings surrounding qualified health claims and subsequent regulations by the FDA. This analysis provides a case study of the challenging task of effective science communication within a dynamic food litigation and policy environment.     

Food health claims – What consumers understand

Issues pertaining to consumer understanding of food health claims are complex and difficult to disentangle because there is a surprising lack of multidisciplinary research aimed at evaluating how consumers are influenced by factors impacting on the evaluation process. In the EU, current legislation is designed to protect consumers from misleading and false claims but there is much debate about the concept of the ‘average consumer’ referred to in the legislation.     

Shopping for Information: Implications of Consumer Learning for Optimal Pricing and Product Design*

I study a seller's pricing problem where consumers perform costly product research about value before purchase. They buy the product when sufficiently optimistic about value and cease research when sufficiently pessimistic. I find that the seller encourages product research when prior belief about value is high, even though he could sell immediately for a high price. The prior affects both expected value and how additional information changes consumers' beliefs. I show that an increase in research cost affects equilibrium price nonmonotonically. Finally, when the seller chooses price and product value dispersion, the optimal level of dispersion need not be extremal.     

Seeing Is Believing (Too Much): The Influence of Product Form on Perceptions of Functional Performance

The present research investigates the manner in which product form communicates functional performance, and examines how the form of a product can alter judgments about feature function. In a series of experiments, product form is pitted against objective information about feature function to understand how conflicting visual and verbal cues are reconciled. The findings indicate that when a product's form suggests a particular level of functional performance, consumers naturally incorporate that information into judgments of feature performance, even when presented with conflicting feature information from an objective source. The role of consumer attention in the process is also explored. The results suggest that product developers may be able to improve perceived performance by focusing design efforts and marketing communications on specific features that visually communicate functionality.     

The sceptical consumer? Exploring views about food assurance

The problem of trust in food production and regulation has increasingly been raised as a practical and policy issue in recent years and one solution has been to provide more and better information about food production and regulation, especially through food assurance schemes. To look for evidence that this might be successful, this paper uses a small empirical study of how UK consumers think about food information and food assurance claims, using a statement sorting exercise (Q methodology) to identify key factors or shared views. We found that our consumers, despite differences in sociodemographics, gender, diet and shopping habits, tended to share a baseline of scepticism about food information and food assurance claims. We speculate that such scepticism may mean that, rather than providing a solution to the problem of distrust, food assurance schemes may themselves come to be distrusted.     

A consumer segmentation of nutrition information use and its relation to food consumption behaviour

Consumers need information such as nutrition tables to assess the nutritional value of a food product. Although a broad range of studies has examined consumers’ attention, perception and use of nutrition tables, relatively little is known about what types of consumers use what kind of nutrition information. Therefore, using data from the Swiss Food Panel, we conducted a cluster analysis of nutrition information usage and health and nutrition interest to determine whether consumers could be segmented into specific groups. We identified four segments, which we labelled Official Information Users, Internet Users, Moderate Users and Uninterested. We then determined the segments’ demographics, food frequencies and perception of food. Based on our findings, we provide suggestions for targeted interventions that stimulate healthy food choices among these four segments. Our findings imply that nutrition education or the improvement of nutrition labels is unlikely tostimulate nutrition information usage among all consumer types; some consumers may rather benefit more from environmental cues that prime healthy food choices.     

Research Opportunities Related to Consumer Response to Product Design*

This essay identifies five research opportunities that concern consumer response to product design. The first opportunity involves the need for more research on the interaction between form and function in consumer product evaluations. To this end, more knowledge about how product appearance characteristics influence consumer evaluation of both product form and function, and how this differs between countries and in time, is needed. The second research opportunity concerns the influence of consumer input in the front end of new product development on product success. Although the positive effect of market information use on product success is known, more actionable insight into which consumer information or input is beneficial in which circumstances is largely missing. The third opportunity for research concerns how to include subjective product attributes in concept testing. Getting valid feedback from consumers, which includes functional as well as emotional and experiential aspects, can improve proficiency in the early stages of product development. In this essay, several ways of approaching this research endeavor are highlighted. Next to enhancing market receipt and the assessment of product design, two topics that concern consumer response to product design from a more managerial viewpoint are identified. The first of these is strategic management of product styling. The importance and opportunities of visual design for brand management has gained more attention in the literature; different strategies and the cases in which they are beneficial are issues for further research. And finally, the design of product service systems (PSSs) provides opportunities for future research. Here, engendering perceptual unity between products and services and an explicit managing of meanings and feelings that PSSs should communicate are issues at play.     

Teachers’ views about technical education: implications for reforms towards a broad based technology curriculum in Malawi

Internationally there has been concern about the direction of technical education and how it is positioned in schools. This has also been the case in Malawi where the curriculum has had a strong focus on skills development. However, lately there has been a call for enhancing technological literacy of students, yet little support has been provided for teachers to achieve this goal. This paper reports from a wider study that looked at teachers’ existing views and practices in technical education in Malawi. The article focuses on the findings from interviews that were conducted with six secondary school teachers to find out about their understanding of the meaning and rationale for technical education. It is also discussed how the teachers view technical education as involving skills development for making things and their thoughts on the benefits of such knowledge. It is argued that teachers’ views about technical education were strongly linked to the goals of the curriculum vacationalization policies adopted at the dawn of political independence. Besides skills training they saw the potential to impart thinking skills related to design and problem solving, and the need for essential pedagogical techniques to support learning in technical education. Examination requirements, inadequate opportunities to conduct practical activities and a lack of supportive policy were seen as limiting factors. This article claims that teachers’ views were shaped by their expectations and beliefs about the nature of technical education and what they perceived students may gain from such learning. Their views were also influenced by contextual factors which may have implications on reforms towards broader notions of technology education.     

Time preferences and food choices: Evidence from a choice experiment

Time preferences have been recognized by numerous studies as an important driver of a number of healthy and environmentally-friendly behaviors. In this study, we first examined if healthy and environmentally-friendly food labels (e.g., USDA organic, carbon trust, health claim, and calories) are relevant in driving food choices. Second, using the Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) scale we analyzed if individuals with different time preferences have different choice behavior and valuations in relation to these labels. Results indicate that consumers value both healthy and environmentally-friendly attributes displayed on labels. Results also suggest that time preferences can significantly influence consumers’ valuation for the USDA organic label, the presence of health claims and the calorie amount attribute.     

Consumer valuation of health attributes for soy-based food: A choice modeling approach

Given that soy foods possess health-promoting attributes that offer the promise of reducing heart-related chronic diseases, this article employs choice experiments to estimate marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for soy attributes including taste, contents of soy protein, and health claim. Random parameter logit (RPL) models were estimated in consideration of potential heterogeneity across individuals in their preferences for soy food. Standard deviation parameters in the RPL models are highly significant, indicating that individuals have widely varying preferences for soy-based food products. Results suggest that, while taste is the dominating attribute that drives consumers’ WTP for soy food products, consumers do respond to the information provided in the health claim. Yet, consumers do not seem to be recognizing soy protein as the link to health benefits of soy foods.