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To heighten shopper interest, fast moving consumer goods marketers often attach supplementary labels to the package front to promote product benefits. This study aims to use claim credibility as the foundation for investigating how an extra affixed label that addresses product benefits impacts consumer evaluation, as well as identifying important factors that might moderate the resulting responses.

Three between-subjects experiments examine how claim credibility mediates the influence of extra affixed labels on product evaluation (Study 1). They also test whether the impact on consumer responses of extra affixed labels, with emphasis on the same vs different benefits as those printed on the front of a package (Study 2.1) or with a high or low relevance between their claimed benefits and the front-of-package stated ingredients (Study 2.2), is dependent upon individuals’ need for cognition.

Results show the power of extra affixed labels in improving product evaluation. Claim credibility mediated the observed effects of extra affixed labeling. Yet, the favorable effects of extra affixed labels for individuals high in need for cognition is diminished when expressed in a different (vs same) claim from those printed on the package front or the claim about product benefits is low (vs high) relevance to the declared ingredients. The reverse holds true for those low in need for cognition.

This study advances knowledge on the effects of extra affixed label claims on product evaluation.

Capturing consumers’ notice by differentiating a product from competing brands in attaching an affixed label featuring product claims, as an alternative front-of-package (FOP) cue, has been widely used in fast-moving consumer goods retailing. This paper aims to apply perceived product newness as the basis for examining how affixed labeling, manipulated in terms of design features and message claims, can impact consumer evaluation.

Four between-subjects experiments examined the persuasive impact of the use of affixed labels. In particular, how product evaluation, in response to affixed labeling, varied as a function of its shape (Study 1a), location (Study 1b), the combination of shape and location cues (Study 1c) and the strength of message claims conveyed by such labels (Study 2). Perceived product newness is assessed as a mediator for all studies.

The results show the power of affixed labels in persuasion. Specifically, consumers tend to perceive the item as newer, achieving persuasion, when the affixed label has a distinctive shape or location. Yet, incorporating several unusual design components fails to trigger an elevated result if a singular visual stimulus serves as a cue for an item’s newness. Further, the strength of claims highlighted in an affixed label correlates to positive impact on evaluations.

This study offers an empirically based examination of consumers’ responses to affixed labeling and identifies perceived product newness as a mediator of the observed effect.

A salient, affixed label enables a credible cue for product newness, therefore, driving evaluation.

This paper contributes to understanding the influence on the persuasion of FOP labeling, with salience to retail promotional and sales messaging tactics.

Rates of diseases caused by poor diet have seen no reduction in recent years. In this scenario, nutritional information labels and health claims could play a decisive role in modifying product attitudes and purchase intention (consequently, eating habits). In this frame, the first objective is to analyze the role of three antecedents on attitudes toward nutritional labels and credibility from health claims. These three starting antecedents are as follows: psychological characteristics of the consumer associated with eating disorders, body image attitudes and affective reactions (pleasure and arousal). Second, this paper aims to analyze if both elements (attitudes toward nutritional labels and credibility from health claims) improve (or not) food product attitudes and then, its purchase intention.

The sample comprised 300 young people between 18 and 25 years old. They provided their opinion about a healthy product by completing a structured and personal questionnaire after inspecting the packaging. Path analysis with partial least squares (PLS) was carried out to test the hypotheses stated.

First, psychological characteristics associated with eating disorders (self-concept and self-esteem) have a positive significant influence on body image attitudes. Second, attitudes toward their body image have a great effect on the perception that these consumers have about the information provided by healthy food packaging. Insofar as those whose attitudes toward their body image is “damaged” seek in the nutritional label indications that make them feel calm understanding that the food they are going to buy is not harmful to their health. Moreover, credibility from health claims improves positive attitudes toward the nutritional label. On the contrary, those consumers with higher punctuations in body image assigned lower values to those items concerning nutritional information and health claims in the packaging. Third, if attitudes to nutritional information improve, then product attitudes improve too. Fourth, if product attitudes improve, then purchase intention improves too. So, food product managers should be aware of the need to improve product attitudes by working on the packaging (label and claim) to improve purchase intention.

First, although previous literature has investigated individual psychological characteristics related to food disorders in the health area, the study of these specific individual psychological characteristics (ineffectiveness, perfectionism, interpersonal distrust, interceptive awareness, maturity fears), is under-researched in the marketing discipline. Second, to date, different authors have investigated how important the use of credibility from health claims in packaging can be in terms of increasing product attitudes and purchase intention, as well as the development of positive attitudes toward nutritional information on the label. However, the joint study of both information sources in the packaging (credibility from health claims and attitudes toward nutritional labels) remains under-investigated.

The purpose of this article is to explore boundaries in marketing and science with respect to labeled claims of herbal products and other dietary supplements.

Supplement manufacturers are allowed to include claims on product labels without meeting an acceptable substantiation standard, as long as such claims are accompanied by an FDA disclaimer statement. While manufacturers are prohibited (though the regulation is often violated) from making specific claims about prevention or treatment of disease, the implied associated health benefits of using dietary supplement products are usually clear from marketed claims. A case example on themes expressed in labeled structure‐function claims for ginkgo biloba is presented to illustrate the issues.

Marketing of product claims is controversial due to differing perspectives about the truthfulness of claimed health benefits and quality of information presented to consumers. Although dietary supplements could have pharmaceutical‐like properties, they are not required to demonstrate safety and efficacy before market availability. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can take action only if supplements are shown to be unsafe after market introduction.

The need for consumer choice, meaningful information and free‐market access to dietary supplements must be balanced with the demands for truth‐in‐advertising and consumer protection from unreliable claims and adverse health events. Marketing and policy implications are described.

The outcome would help increase consumer confidence, while continuing to allow free‐market forces for the dietary supplement industry, to a large extent.

The interest of food consumers in improved quality, healthiness, freshness, and authenticity results in a growing introduction of new food products featuring a variety of “positive” (e.g. “Enriched with Vitamin D”) and “negative” (e.g. “Low in Fat”) label claims. It's the goal of this paper to uncover how the presence of positive and absence of negative benefits or attributes balance in the minds of consumers, determine which label claims would have the greatest impact on consumers' intention to buy milk, and understand the role of stating these in either a positive or a negative frame.

To achieve the objectives of this paper, we utilize (1) descriptive study to identify which claims are currently used by the dairy marketing practitioners, (2) focus group to identify the importance of positive and negative product claims, and (3) online survey including discrete choice experiment (DCE) to determine the effect of positive and negative claims on consumer food choices.

We provide evidence of negative bias in consumers facing the choice between foods with enriched positive ingredients vs foods that are free-from negative ingredients. Specifically, we find that consumers have a general tendency toward giving negative attributes more weight than positive ones.

The research was conducted in one food category.

This research should encourage food marketers to include more positive statements about their products rather than the current focus on negatives such as no GMOs or no hormones. the authors understand these negative attributes need to be made but there should also be positive attributes.

Consumers will get a total picture of the product values and not skewed to one point.

The concept of negative bias has not be adequately explored in the food category on product labels.

This research aims to examine the effects of varying front-of-package (FOP) nutrition information type on parents' food product choices for children.

A 3(FOP nutrition information: nutrient specific system vs food group information system vs summary indicator system) × 3(Perceived healthiness of the product: high vs moderate vs low) mixed-design experiment and content analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings suggest that summary indicator systems were effective in positively impacting parents' choices for healthier food options, however not as effective as food group information systems – which includes specific nutrient content claims complementing less familiar health nutrient symbols.

Implications for marketers, consumer welfare advocates and product brand managers are provided.

Nutrition labelling of food products has received considerable attention in the marketing literature due to increasing consumer interest in health and diet issues. Nutrition labelling of food products is intended to enable informed consumer choices and stimulate the consumption and production of healthful products. Reviews nutrition labelling research, organises the literature, and discusses implications for policy makers, managers and researchers. Analysis of the literature suggests heterogeneous utilisation and comprehension of on‐pack nutrition information by consumers. The effectiveness of nutrition labelling depends also on the organisation and presentation of the information, implying the importance of regulatory issues. The topic is rich in public and marketing policy implications and provides several opportunities for further research.

Milk and yoghurt provide essential sources of nutrition throughout the life cycle in the Irish diet. Health claims on dairy product labels were popular in the 1980s, and since the introduction of the nutrition and health claims (NHC) Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 in 2007, many new regulated claims have been used to communicate product benefits. Meanwhile, COVID-19 and the Farm to Fork strategy have heightened consumer awareness of health issues. All of these factors have contributed to a change in our food environment and interest in health. In addition, the European Commission is working to introduce a legislative proposal on nutrient profiles (NP) to restrict the use of NHC on foods that are high in salt, fat or sugar. This qualitative study aims to research knowledge on adults’ attitudes, perceptions and behaviour towards NHC on dairy products.

The study used a thematic analysis using transcripts from a series of discussion groups, attended by adults (n = 24). The participants also completed an introductory questionnaire.

The study noted positive attitudes towards dairy protein. This attitude was common across age, gender or life stage. There were misperceptions regarding yoghurt composition and health benefits. There were negative perceptions of low-fat nutrition claims on yoghurt, which led to a preference for full-fat dairy products. This requires further insight and research.

Participants from a wider socio-demographic group could have broadened the research limits of this project.

These findings will interest policymakers, regulators, dieticians and the food industry.

Explores the importance of effective labeling in marketing concerning the abilities and motivations of consumers to understand and make decisions by using the information made available to them on the labels of the products which they purchase. Reports on focus group studies where the respondents’ attitudes and evaluations suggested that, as consumers, they have difficulty in processing information on labels due to the complexity of phraseology, the coding of chemical constituents, the lack of standardization in the presentation of contents and misleading claims about products.

Despite research studies indicating strong support for labelling information, uncertainty remains with respect to how labels influence consumers. This paper attempts to empirically investigate how consumers who differ in terms of environmentalism respond to labels.

The data were collected on an Australian sample using a structured questionnaire administered on the phone using quantum research (CATI) data collection services. A total of 155 questionnaires were completed and used for data analysis. The data were analysed using both descriptive measures and correlations between variables.

There appears to be a proportion of consumers that find product labels hard to understand. The research found that there are consumers who will buy green products even if they are lower in quality in comparison to alternative products, but would look for environmental information on labels. With respect to price sensitive green consumers, there appears to be a relationship between price sensitivity and “always” reading labels as well as indicating that there is “sufficient” information on product labels to make informed purchase decisions.

It was beyond the scope of the research to account for some of the utilitarian approaches to interpretation or in‐depth comprehension of label information. The sample size of 155, although selected using a probability method, may, to some extent, limit the overall accuracy of the results.

The research offers some important information on different green consumer segments that would alert managers on how best to position environmental labels. Findings such as “Satisfied with labels” correlates with “Labels are accurate”, which suggests that businesses need to provide a clear, accurate and easily legible label design to encourage satisfaction with the accuracy of content and the communication aspects of a label.

The paper contributes to better understanding of green customers purchase intentions and the usefulness of ecological product labels. It offers some insights and assistance to businesses in planning their green product/labelling strategies.