TY - JOUR
T1 - Should we trust front-of-package labels? How food and brand categorization influence healthinessperception and preference
AU - Schneider, Gustavo
AU - Ghosh, Anastasiya Pocheptsova
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 the Association for Consumer Research. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/4
Y1 - 2020/4
N2 - Helping consumers make better nutritional choices is an important issue for policy makers and marketers. We examine the role of front-of-package (FOP) labels in guiding consumer preferences toward making healthier choices. We propose that, when consumers have a prior belief that a product/brand is healthy, reading an FOP label on product packaging thus increases consumer trust, as a result of the agentic role companies play in displaying voluntary FOP labels. This enhanced trust has a downstream positive effect on healthiness perceptions and preferences for foods displaying FOP labels. However, because consumers may be suspicious that an unhealthy brand or product displays an FOP label as an attempt to persuade consumers to buy unhealthy products, no comparable positive effects are found when consumers hold a prior belief that a product/brand is unhealthy.
AB - Helping consumers make better nutritional choices is an important issue for policy makers and marketers. We examine the role of front-of-package (FOP) labels in guiding consumer preferences toward making healthier choices. We propose that, when consumers have a prior belief that a product/brand is healthy, reading an FOP label on product packaging thus increases consumer trust, as a result of the agentic role companies play in displaying voluntary FOP labels. This enhanced trust has a downstream positive effect on healthiness perceptions and preferences for foods displaying FOP labels. However, because consumers may be suspicious that an unhealthy brand or product displays an FOP label as an attempt to persuade consumers to buy unhealthy products, no comparable positive effects are found when consumers hold a prior belief that a product/brand is unhealthy.
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U2 - 10.1086/707929
DO - 10.1086/707929
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85117061807
SN - 2378-1815
VL - 5
SP - 149
EP - 161
JO - Journal of the Association for Consumer Research
JF - Journal of the Association for Consumer Research
IS - 2
ER -