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Effects of front-of-pack labels on the nutritional quality of supermarket food purchases: evidence from a large-scale randomized controlled trial

Author

Listed:
  • Pierre Dubois

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Paulo Albuquerque

    (INSEAD - Institut Européen d'administration des Affaires)

  • Olivier Allais

    (ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Céline Bonnet

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Patrice Bertail

    (MODAL'X - Modélisation aléatoire de Paris X - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Pierre Combris

    (ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Saadi Lahlou

    (LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science)

  • Natalie Rigal

    (UPN - Université Paris Nanterre, CliPsyD - Clinique, Psychanalyse, Développement - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre)

  • Bernard Ruffieux

    (GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes)

  • Pierre Chandon

    (INSEAD - Institut Européen d'administration des Affaires)

Abstract

To examine whether four pre-selected front-of-pack nutrition labels improve food purchases in real-life grocery shopping settings, we put 1.9 million labels on 1,266 food products in four categories in 60 supermarkets and analyzed the nutritional quality of 1,668,301 purchases using the FSA nutrient profiling score. Effect sizes were 17 times smaller on average than those found in comparable laboratory studies. The most effective nutrition label, Nutri-Score, increased the purchases of foods in the top third of their category nutrition-wise by 14%, but had no impact on the purchases of foods with medium, low, or unlabeled nutrition quality. Therefore, Nutri-Score only improved the nutritional quality of the basket of labeled foods purchased by 2.5% (-0.142 FSA points). Nutri-Score's performance improved with the variance (but not the mean) of the nutritional quality of the category. In-store surveys suggest that Nutri-Score's ability to attract attention and help shoppers rank products by nutritional quality may explain its performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre Dubois & Paulo Albuquerque & Olivier Allais & Céline Bonnet & Patrice Bertail & Pierre Combris & Saadi Lahlou & Natalie Rigal & Bernard Ruffieux & Pierre Chandon, 2020. "Effects of front-of-pack labels on the nutritional quality of supermarket food purchases: evidence from a large-scale randomized controlled trial," Post-Print hal-02562456, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02562456
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-020-00723-5
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02562456
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    Cited by:

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    3. Fichera, Eleonora & von Hinke, Stephanie, 2020. "The response to nutritional labels: Evidence from a quasi-experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Gorton, Matthew & Yeh, Ching-Hua & Chatzopoulou, Elena & White, John & Tocco, Barbara & Hubbard, Carmen & Hallam, Fiona, 2023. "Consumers' willingness to pay for an animal welfare food label," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
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    6. Jingwen Liu & Peng Zou & Yu Ma, 2022. "The Effect of Air Pollution on Food Preferences," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 410-423, March.
    7. Ulysse Soulat & Jeanne Lallement, 2023. "Can quantified-self change urban mobility behaviour? The importance of information presentation [Le quantified-self peut-il changer les comportements de mobilité urbaine ? De l'importance de la pré," Post-Print hal-04367651, HAL.
    8. De Bauw, Michiel & Matthys, Christophe & Poppe, Veerle & Vranken, Liesbet, 2021. "A combined Nutri-Score and ‘Eco-Score’ approach for more nutritious and more environmentally friendly food choices? Evidence from a Belgian consumer experiment," OSF Preprints evzyf, Center for Open Science.
    9. Stijn Maesen & Lien Lamey & Anne ter Braak & Léon Jansen, 2022. "Going healthy: how product characteristics influence the sales impact of front-of-pack health symbols," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 108-130, January.
    10. Birgit Gassler & Claudia K. Faesel & Anke Moeser, 2023. "Toward a differentiated understanding of the effect of Nutri‐Score nutrition labeling on healthier food choices," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 28-50, January.
    11. Andrews, J. Craig & Netemeyer, Richard & Burton, Scot & Kees, Jeremy, 2021. "What consumers actually know: The role of objective nutrition knowledge in processing stop sign and traffic light front-of-pack nutrition labels," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 140-155.
    12. Jorge Alé-Chilet & Sarah Moshary, 2022. "Beyond Consumer Switching: Supply Responses to Food Packaging and Advertising Regulations," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(2), pages 243-270, March.
    13. Paolo Crosetto & Laurent Muller & Bernard Ruffieux, 2024. "Label or taxes: why not both? Testing nutritional mixed policies in the lab," Working Papers 2024-01, Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL).
    14. Didi Alaoui, Mohamed & Valette-Florence, Pierre & Cova, Véronique, 2022. "How psychological distance shapes hedonic consumption: The moderating role of the need to justify," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 57-69.
    15. Rodemeier, Matthias & Löschel, Andreas, 2023. "Information Nudges, Subsidies, and Crowding Out of Attention: Field Evidence from Energy Efficiency Investments," IZA Discussion Papers 16141, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Brian Hill & Thomas Lloyd, 2023. "Are People Willing to Pay for Reduced Inequality?," Working Papers hal-03503995, HAL.
    17. Lan Luo & Koen Pauwels, 2023. "Practice Prize Report: The 2020 and 2022 ISMS Gary Lilien Practice Prize Competition," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 6-10, January.
    18. Pierre Chandon & Romain Cadario, 2023. "Healthy in the wrong way: Mismatching of marketers’ food claim use and consumers’ preferences in the United States but not France," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 153-173, January.
    19. Thomas Chambon & Ulysse Soulat & Jeanne Lallement & Jean-Loup Guillaume, 2023. "The effect of visual information complexity on urban mobility intention and behavior," Post-Print hal-04089291, HAL.
    20. Radovan Savov & Filip Tkac & Juraj Cheben & Jana Kozakova & Jakub Bercík, 2022. "Impact of Different FOPL Systems (Nutri-Score vs. Nutrinform) On Consumer Behaviour: Case Study of the Slovak Republic," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 24(61), pages 797-797, August.
    21. Jacob Suher & Courtney Szocs & Koert Ittersum, 2021. "When imperfect is preferred: the differential effect of aesthetic imperfections on choice of processed and unprocessed foods," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 903-924, September.
    22. Á. Ní Choisdealbha & P. D. Lunn, 2020. "Green and Simple: Disclosures on Eco-labels Interact with Situational Constraints in Consumer Choice," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 699-722, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Policy; Field experiment; Food; RCT; Nutrition -; Labelling; Supermarket;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

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