Consumers' Implicit and Explicit Recall, Understanding and Perceptions of Products with Nutrition-Related Messages: An Online Survey.

Beatriz Franco-Arellano,Mavra Ahmed,Angela Oh,Lana Vanderlee,Mary R L’Abbé

doi:10.3390/ijerph17218213

Abstract

This study aimed to assess consumers’ implicit and explicit recall, understanding and perceptions of products with a nutrition claim and a symbol depicting ‘health,’ and to determine whether these perceptions differed among Nutrition Facts table (NFt) users vs. nonusers. In an online survey, participants (n = 1997) were randomized to one of eight conditions in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design, consisting of a label with a claim (present/absent) a heart-shaped symbol depicting ‘health’ (present/absent) for a healthier or less healthy soup. Participants were shown a label for 10 s and asked whether they recalled seeing a claim. If participants answered yes, they were then asked to describe their response using open-ended questions. Participants also rated the product’s perceived nutritional quality and purchase intentions using seven-point Likert scales. In the claim condition, most participants (75%) were able to recall the presence of a claim, while 12% incorrectly mentioned the presence of a claim when there was none. Claims likely attracted consumers’ attention and increased perceived nutritional quality, although with limited influence among NFt users (23%). The symbol depicting ‘health’ did not enhance perceived nutritional quality or purchase intentions. Although most participants (77%) made their decisions implicitly using the front of labels, those who used the NFt had a better understanding of the nutritional quality of products.

Highlights

IntroductionPsychologists and consumer behavior scientists have investigated consumers’
In past decades, psychologists and consumer behavior scientists have investigated consumers’evaluation of products and decision-making [1]
Clicked at the Nutrition Facts table (NFt) when Assessing Nutritional Quality Clicked at the NFt when Assessing Purchase Intentions

Summary

Introduction

Psychologists and consumer behavior scientists have investigated consumers’. Evaluation of products and decision-making [1]. Psychologists have classified how people make decisions in two ways: One that is fast, automatic, and effortless, which relies on preconceived beliefs, intentions, patterns, perceptions, intuition, and/or memory, commonly known as “System 1” [1]; and a second, which is slow, effortful, and conscious, which relies on cognitive reflection of options when decisions are being made, often called “System 2” [1]. It is not surprising that people use the former system more often than the latter to make decisions. When consumers retrieve information automatically and without reasoning (i.e., using System 1), this process is called an “implicit” evaluation [2,3]. Public Health 2020, 17, 8213; doi:10.3390/ijerph17218213 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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