1. Introduction
FOP, 0–4-star FOP, FOP Only)—all, 1–4-star FOP
MOHR, HSR
The aim of this research was to determine whether parent/child pairs choosing products from a grocery aisle labeled with front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels would make more healthful choices than pairs who viewed the same items without labels, and to determine the added value of viewing an explanatory video before choosing. In this experiment, 175 parent/child pairs chose USD 20 worth of packaged foods and beverages from a grocery aisle in a research laboratory and were randomly assigned to see products that either did or did not have 0–4-star FOP labels, with more stars indicating more healthful products. Among those participants with access to FOP labels, half were randomly assigned to view a 30 s video explaining the FOP labels before selecting foods. Participants who saw the explanatory video before selecting among products with FOP labels chose foods with significantly more stars than participants who saw the FOP-labeled products without the video; however, there was no significant difference in mean stars on selected products between the group that saw the videos and the control group that saw neither the video nor FOP labels. We conclude that explaining new FOP labels to consumers may be necessary for the labels to prompt more healthful choices.Given the public health crisis resulting from poor nutritional quality of consumer diets, policy makers and public health experts are continually seeking new strategies to improve consumer health [The debate over whether the U.S. should adopt an FOP nutrition label policy is making news as special interest groups continue to put pressure on the FDA to mandate this practice [FOP labels under consideration can be classified as either reductive or interpretive. Whereas reductive labels (e.g., Reference Intakes) only summarize the quantity and percent daily allowance in a single serving of food, interpretive labels provide additional guidance regarding the healthfulness of the food. Interpretive labels are further differentiated with the presence of nutrient-specific information (e.g., Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL) and warning labels), the provision of a summary indicator that presents the overall nutritional composition of the food (e.g., Nutri-Score), and hybrid labels that include both types of information (e.g., Health Star Rating [HSR]). Summary indicators such as Nutri-Score, which was adopted in France in 2017, have been shown to be more effective than nutrient-specific labels as indicated with more healthful food choices among consumers [Research examining the primary FOP labels used in the EU has revealed that interpretive labels with summary indicators are most effective at increasing the overall nutritional quality of a shopping cart of products (e.g., Ducrot et al. [Compelling evidence points to the use of summary indicators as an effective tool to aid in healthful food choice, and nutrient-specific warning labels (i.e., “high in sodium”), have been shown to be more effective than reductive labels (i.e., Reference Intakes) in prompting more healthful food choices and have therefore been adopted in Chile [Overall, existing research demonstrates that FOP labels across formats are effective at raising consumer awareness around product healthfulness [Taken together, the efficacy of FOP labels is highly contextual. Therefore, acknowledgement of the effects of culture, socioeconomic status, and health literacy on FOP label impact has been the focus of some concern [The current research also takes a country-specific and education-based perspective on the examination of FOP label efficacy. In particular, the U.S. Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) recommended an interpretive nutrient-specific summary indicator label [Overall, FOP labels positively affect consumers’ abilities to discern healthfulness among commonly purchased foods. However, it is important to note that variance exists in the extent to which consumers attend to and use FOP labels in making food choices [While educational tools have been found to be helpful in increasing use and understanding of Nutrition Facts panels [Finally, responding to the call for more information about the role of children in food decision making [The present study examines the effects of interpretive nutrient-specific summary indicator FOP labels and explanatory videos on food choices among parent/child pairs. Pairs were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1. Control—no labels and no video; 2. FOP labels only (FOP Only)—all products these participants saw were labeled with 1–4-star FOP labels based on the IOM’s recommendations and the results of Graham and Mohr [It was hypothesized thatFOP labels alone (FOP Only) would not produce significantly different food choices compared with no labels (Control group).The FOP + Video group would choose products that had, on average, more stars on their FOP labels relative to the FOP Only group and the no-label Control group.