Paper by Francesca Sotgiu in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
The paper ‘Consumer effects of front-of-package nutrition labeling: an interdisciplinary meta-analysis' by Francesca Sotgiu (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and co-authors Iina Ikonen Ikonen, Aylin Aydinli and Peeter W. J. Verlegh has been published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (May 2020).
Abstract
As consumers continue to struggle with issues related to unhealthy consumption, the goal of front-of-package (FOP) nutritionlabels is to provide nutrition information in more understandable formats. The marketplace is filled with different FOP labels, buttheir true effects remain unclear, as does which label works best to change perceptions and behaviors. We address these issuesthrough an interdisciplinary meta-analysis, generalizing the findings of 114 articles on the impact of FOP labels on outcomessuch as consumers’ability to identify healthier options, product perceptions, purchase behavior, and consumption. The resultsshow that, although FOP labels help consumers to identify healthier products, their ability to nudge consumers toward healthierchoices is more limited. Importantly, FOP labels may lead to halo effects, positively influencing not only virtue but also viceproducts, e.g., interpretive nutrient-specific labels improve health perceptions of both vice and virtue products, yet they influenceonly the purchase intention of virtues.
Article Citation:
Iina Ikonen Ikonen, Francesca Sotgiu, Aylin Aydinli and Peeter W. J. Verlegh, “Consumer effects of front-of-package nutrition labeling: an interdisciplinary meta-analysis”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Volume 48, Issue 3 (May 2020), 360–383.