An Experimental Study Evaluating the Influence of Front-of-Package Warning Labels on Adolescent’s Purchase Intention of Processed Food Products

Abstract

Front-of-package warning labels (WLs) are among the public health policies adopted by some countries, mainly in Latin-America, to tackle childhood obesity; however, their impact is still under review. The aim of this study was to assess, using an experimental design, whether WLs influence purchase intention of processed foods and identification of the healthiest products among adolescents in Peru, in May 2019, just before WLs mandatory implementation. Four hundred forty-nine adolescents from two public schools were randomly assigned to an experimental group (received three different processed products with either zero, one or two WLs, informing if they were high in sugar, sodium and/or saturated fats) or a control group (received the same products but unlabeled). Participants chose which product they would buy, and which they considered to be the healthiest. No differences between groups were found neither in purchase intention (p = 0.386) nor in the identification of the healthiest product (p = 0.322). In both groups, the most-selected product was always the healthiest of the triad (>40% in purchase intention and >80% in identification of the healthiest). Front-of-package WLs did not influence purchase intention, or identification of healthier products among adolescents from public schools in Peru. Mass media and educational campaigns should accompany the WLs implementation to help achieve the policy objective.

Are Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labels Influencing Food Choices and Purchases, Diet Quality, and Modeled Health Outcomes? A Narrative Review of Four Systems

“…When considering studies published from mid-2018, 47 new set of data were identified and analyzed [ 12 , 20 , 23 , 24 , 27 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 44 , 46 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 55 , 56 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 78 , 79 , 81 ]. Among those, 23 compared two of the four FOPNL of interest or more.…”

“…Among those, 23 compared two of the four FOPNL of interest or more. Most studies found a favorable impact of at least one FOPNL on at least one measure and only five studies (11%) did not find any effect on selection/purchasing behavior [ 12 , 38 , 39 , 52 , 63 , 71 ]. Conversely, several comparative studies reported a lack of effect of at least one FOPNL, even though another one was found effective.…”

Consumers' Response to Sugar Label Formats in Packaged Foods: A Multi-Methods Study in Brazil

“…Nevertheless, the proposed NIP plus an octagonal FoP label (iii) had the lowest proportion of participants choosing high-in-sugar products for whole-grain biscuits, yoghourts, and across all products. Studies conducted in neighbouring Latin American countries have demonstrated that FoP octagonal warning labels effectively reduce consumer choice of foods high in critical nutrients ( 47 , 49 , 51 , 52 ).…”

Front‐of‐package nutrition labeling as a driver for healthier food choices: Lessons learned and future perspectives

“…In addition, experimental studies have shown that this type of FOPL has a more accurate effect on reducing the purchase of foods high in certain nutrients, such as sugar (Alcantara et al., 2020; Ang et al., 2019; Jáuregui et al., 2020), total calories, saturated fat, total fat, and sodium (Jáuregui et al., 2020). On the other hand, a study of Peruvian adolescents conducted shortly before the introduction of WL in Peru found no differences between the group without FOPL and the group with FOPL in terms of purchase intentions and identification of the option with the lowest levels of added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium (Saavedra‐Garcia et al., 2022). The authors argue that WL may not be sufficient to influence the purchase intentions of adolescents from low‐ to moderate‐income communities, but this hypothesis was not tested in the study.…”

“…All FOPL models were found to have some barriers to their effectiveness on consumer behavior. It seems that taste, aroma, brand, and price are considered more important than the message conveyed by FOPL (Freire et al., 2017; Pettigrew et al., 2016; Saavedra‐Garcia et al., 2022). For example, an experimental study demonstrated that when there was one or two WLs, purchase intentions for products, such as granola bars and margarine, decreased, while this effect was not evident in the case of ice cream and ketchup (Uribe et al., 2020).…”