The positive effects of warning labels: Evidence from healthy food consumption

Warning labels have traditionally been associated with unhealthy products such as tobacco or alcohol. However, warning labels have also begun to appear on healthy foods, which featured a message prompting consumers to “buy it only when you really, really need it.†To date, few studies have examined the impact of warning labels on healthy foods. Through five experiments, this study unexpectedly reveals that such labels can increase the consumption of healthy foods, as they enhance the epistemic trust and decrease the advertising avoidance of the brand. Specifically, injunctive warning labels exert a stronger positive impact on purchase intentions than descriptive warning labels, and both outperform the absence of any warning label. Notably, when consumers exhibit high levels of health anxiety, the positive effect of warning labels on purchase intentions is weakened or even disappears. This study enriches the marketing label literature by revealing the counterintuitive effect of warning labels in enhancing trust in the information source and consumer response in the context of healthy foods, offering important implications for businesses.