The impact of 'on-pack' pictorial health warning labels and calorie information labels on drink choice: A laboratory experiment.
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Authors
Codling, Saphsa
Sexton, Olivia
Publication Date
2020-02-01Journal Title
Appetite
ISSN
0195-6663
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
145
Pages
104484
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Physical Medium
Print-Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Mantzari Hansche, E., Pechey, R., Codling, S., Sexton, O., Hollands, G., & Marteau, T. (2020). The impact of 'on-pack' pictorial health warning labels and calorie information labels on drink choice: A laboratory experiment.. Appetite, 145 104484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2019.104484
Abstract
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are one of the largest added sugar sources to diets in the UK and USA. Health warning labels reduce hypothetical selection of SSBs in online studies but uncertainty surrounds their impact on selection of drinks for consumption. Calorie information labels are also promising but their impact on SSB selection is unclear. This laboratory study assessed the impact on SSB selection of 'on-pack' labels placed directly on physical products: i.a pictorial health warning label depicting an adverse health consequence of excess sugar consumption; and ii.calorie information labels. Potential moderation of any effects by socio-economic position (SEP) was also examined. Participants - 401 adults, resident in England, approximately half of whom were of lower SEP and half of higher SEP, were asked to select a drink from a range of two non-SSBs and four SSBs (subsequent to completing a separate study assessing the effects of food availability on snack selection). The drinks included 'on-pack' labels according to randomisation: Group 1: pictorial health warning label on SSBs; Group 2: calorie information label on all drinks; Group 3: no additional label. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants selecting an SSB. Compared to not having additional labels (39%), neither the pictorial health warning label (40%) nor calorie information labels (43%) affected the proportion of participants selecting an SSB. Lower SEP participants (45%) were more likely to select an SSB compared to those of higher SEP (35%), but SEP did not moderate the impact of labels on drink selection. In conclusion, pictorial health warning labels may be less effective in reducing SSB selection in lab-based compared with online settings, or depending on label design and placement. Findings suggest that effects might be absent when choosing from real products with actual 'on-pack' labels, positioned in a 'realistic' manner. Field studies are needed to further assess the impact of 'on-pack' SSB warning labels in real-world settings to rule out the possible contribution of study design factors.
Keywords
Humans, Photography, Random Allocation, Food Preferences, Choice Behavior, Energy Intake, Socioeconomic Factors, Food Labeling, Adult, Middle Aged, Educational Status, Health Promotion, England, Female, Male, Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
Sponsorship
Department of Health (PRP number 107001)
Wellcome Trust (106679/Z/14/Z)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2019.104484
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/298163
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