Marketing Clues on the Label Raise the Purchase Intention of Genetically Modified Food

Dan Jiang,Guangling Zhang

doi:10.3390/su13179970

Abstract

As more and more genetically modified foods (GMFs) must be labeled, adding more information to increase the willingness to buy genetically modified food has become the focus of scholars and enterprises. Most current studies have confirmed that the consumer attitudes and purchase intention toward GMFs are not good. This study aims to match consumers’ different information-processing mechanisms by adding marketing information clues and regulating their purchase intentions by contradictory attitudes towards GMFs. According to the interest demands of GMFs, the marketing clue information was divided into functional information and environmental information. Through two studies, we find that consumers are more inclined to environmental information than heuristic. Functional information is more attractive to males, and the young generation prefers ecological information. Consumers with high ambivalence towards genetically modified foods are more inclined to choose environmental attribute information.

Highlights

The global commercialization of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has advancing worldwide at an unprecedented speed [1]
genetically modified foods (GMFs), the marketing clue information was divided into functional information and environmental information
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) GM Foods Platform, 191.7 million hectares of biotech crops are grown in 70 countries, and about 60% to 70% of the food on the market contains genetically modified ingredients [3,4]

Summary

Introduction

The global commercialization of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has advancing worldwide at an unprecedented speed [1]. Consumers’ attitudes and behavior patterns towards genetically modified organisms will significantly impact the future of the economy [2]. According to the FAO GM Foods Platform, 191.7 million hectares of biotech crops are grown in 70 countries, and about 60% to 70% of the food on the market contains genetically modified ingredients [3,4]. GM foods use different labeling systems, as previous laws required the labeling of genetically modified organisms and their products. The proportion of genetically modified food labeling information affecting purchase intention is increasing [6]. Consumers’ attitudes and purchase behaviors towards GM foods are affected by many factors, such as consumer’s age, gender, education level, income and other demographic variables, their knowledge of GM foods, the recognition of scientific authority, and government (Corporate) trust, etc. [2,8,9,10,11,12]

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Results

Conclusion