Dual Sustainability Labels Create Perceptual Biases in Food Choices

Why It Matters

Designers creating product labeling for food items need to be aware that the presence of multiple scoring systems can inadvertently influence consumer perception, potentially masking or exaggerating certain attributes. This understanding is crucial for transparent and effective communication in the food industry.

Key Finding

When consumers see both a nutritional score and an environmental score on a food product, their judgment about how healthy or eco-friendly it is can be skewed by the interaction between the two scores.

Key Findings

• The Nutri-Score and Eco-Score significantly influence each other's perceived impact on consumers.
• The combined presence of these labels can lead to biased assessments of a food product's healthiness and environmental friendliness.

Research Evidence

Aim: To investigate how the simultaneous presentation of nutritional and environmental scoring labels affects consumer perceptions of food healthiness and environmental impact.

Method: Experimental study

Procedure: Participants were exposed to four food products with varying combinations of high/low Nutri-Score and Eco-Score ratings. Their perceived healthiness and environmental friendliness were then measured.

Sample Size: 1,061 participants

Context: Food product labeling and consumer perception

Design Principle

Minimize perceptual bias in multi-attribute labeling by understanding and testing the interaction effects of different information cues.

How to Apply

Before launching products with dual labeling systems, conduct user testing to assess how consumers interpret the combined information and whether any biases emerge.

Limitations

The study was conducted in Germany, and findings may vary across different cultural contexts and consumer groups. The specific food products chosen may also influence the observed effects.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: Putting two different scores on food (like how healthy it is and how good it is for the planet) can sometimes trick people into thinking it's better or worse than it really is, because the scores can mess with each other in their minds.

Why This Matters: Understanding how consumers process multiple pieces of information is key to designing effective communication strategies for products, especially in areas like sustainability and health where accurate perception is vital.

Critical Thinking: To what extent should designers aim for simplicity in labeling versus providing comprehensive information, given the potential for complex information to create unintended biases?

IA-Ready Paragraph: The study by Jürkenbeck et al. (2024) highlights that presenting multiple sustainability labels, such as nutritional and environmental scores, can lead to significant perceptual biases in consumers. This suggests that designers must carefully consider the potential for interaction effects when developing product communication strategies, as the combined impact of labels may not always align with the intended message.

Project Tips

• When researching user perception of product features, consider how multiple features might interact.
• If your design involves multiple rating systems, plan to test for unintended consequences on user judgment.

How to Use in IA

• This research can inform the justification for choosing specific labeling strategies or for investigating user perception of existing dual-label systems in your design project.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate an awareness of how complex information presentation can lead to cognitive biases in users.

Independent Variable: ["Presence/absence of Nutri-Score","Presence/absence of Eco-Score","High/low rating on Nutri-Score","High/low rating on Eco-Score"]

Dependent Variable: ["Perceived healthiness of food","Perceived environmental friendliness of food"]

Controlled Variables: ["Type of food product","Participant demographics (potentially)"]

Strengths

• Large sample size enhances statistical power.
• Experimental design allows for causal inference regarding label effects.

Critical Questions

• How can designers mitigate these perceptual biases while still providing necessary information?
• Are there alternative labeling formats that could avoid these interaction effects?

Extended Essay Application

• Investigate the impact of different combinations of eco-labels on consumer purchasing decisions for a specific product category.
• Design and test a novel labeling system that aims to reduce perceptual biases associated with dual scoring.

Source

Nutri-Score and Eco-Score: Consumers' trade-offs when facing two sustainability labels · Food Quality and Preference · 2024 · 10.1016/j.foodqual.2024.105200