IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i3p1581-d492018.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Designed to Be Noticed: A Reconceptualization of Carbon Food Labels as Warning Labels

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel Carrero

    (School of Business Administration, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28015 Madrid, Spain)

  • Carmen Valor

    (School of Business Administration, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28015 Madrid, Spain)

  • Estela Díaz

    (School of Business Administration, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28015 Madrid, Spain)

  • Victoria Labajo

    (School of Business Administration, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28015 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Carbon labels are considered a fundamental tool for reducing emissions associated with grocery products. Although the prior literature has shown that both limited motivation and understanding of carbon labels explain the effectiveness of carbon labels, knowledge regarding how to improve the label design to increase noticeability is limited. Given the limited motivation of mainstream consumers to use carbon labels, this exploratory paper proposes that the label design should trigger bottom-up (or sensory-driven) attention mechanisms. Using grounded theory for the data collection and analysis of six focus groups, this study tests six features (i.e., location, size, color, icons, a colored background or border, and textual anchors) and identifies four design criteria (i.e., vividness, incongruity, simplicity, and clarity) that may increase label noticeability. The main conclusion of this qualitative study is that carbon labels are noticed when they are perceived as a cue of hazard. Based on this finding, we propose that carbon labels could be designed as warning labels; therefore, the insights already proven in the warning label literature should be applied to carbon label design to increase its noticeability and use.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Carrero & Carmen Valor & Estela Díaz & Victoria Labajo, 2021. "Designed to Be Noticed: A Reconceptualization of Carbon Food Labels as Warning Labels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1581-:d:492018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1581/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1581/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adrian R. Camilleri & Richard P. Larrick & Shajuti Hossain & Dalia Patino-Echeverri, 2019. "Consumers underestimate the emissions associated with food but are aided by labels," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 53-58, January.
    2. Brunner, Florentine & Kurz, Verena & Bryngelsson, David & Hedenus, Fredrik, 2018. "Carbon Label at a University Restaurant – Label Implementation and Evaluation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 658-667.
    3. Mette Wier & Katherine O'Doherty Jensen & Laura Morch Andersen & Katrin Millock, 2008. "The Character of Demand in Mature Organic Food Markets: Great Britain and Denmark Compared," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-00343683, HAL.
    4. Stephan G.H. Meyerding & Anna-Lena Schaffmann & Mira Lehberger, 2019. "Consumer Preferences for Different Designs of Carbon Footprint Labelling on Tomatoes in Germany—Does Design Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-30, March.
    5. Sharp, Anne & Wheeler, Meagan, 2013. "Reducing householders’ grocery carbon emissions: Carbon literacy and carbon label preferences," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 240-249.
    6. Mark A. Cohen & W. Kip Viscusi, 2012. "The Role Of Information Disclosure In Climate Mitigation Policy," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(04), pages 1-21.
    7. Banerjee, Abhijit & Solomon, Barry D., 2003. "Eco-labeling for energy efficiency and sustainability: a meta-evaluation of US programs," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 109-123, January.
    8. Van Loo, Ellen J. & Caputo, Vincenzina & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Seo, Han-Seok & Zhang, Baoyue & Verbeke, Wim, 2015. "Sustainability labels on coffee: Consumer preferences, willingness-to-pay and visual attention to attributes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 215-225.
    9. Dacinia Crina Petrescu & Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag, 2015. "Organic Food Perception: Fad, or Healthy and Environmentally Friendly? A Case on Romanian Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-15, August.
    10. Mamouni Limnios, Elena & Schilizzi, Steven G.M. & Burton, Michael & Ong, Angeline & Hynes, Niki, 2016. "Willingness to pay for product ecological footprint: Organic vs non-organic consumers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 338-348.
    11. Gunne Grankvist & Ulf Dahlstrand & Anders Biel, 2004. "The Impact of Environmental Labelling on Consumer Preference: Negative vs. Positive Labels," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 213-230, June.
    12. Vlaeminck, Pieter & Jiang, Ting & Vranken, Liesbet, 2014. "Food labeling and eco-friendly consumption: Experimental evidence from a Belgian supermarket," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 180-190.
    13. Baddeley, Shane & Cheng, Peter & Wolfe, Robert, 2012. "Trade Policy Implications of Carbon Labels on Food," Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy, Estey Centre for Law and Economics in International Trade, vol. 13(1), pages 1-35, February.
    14. Gadema, Zaina & Oglethorpe, David, 2011. "The use and usefulness of carbon labelling food: A policy perspective from a survey of UK supermarket shoppers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 815-822.
    15. Mette Wier & Katherine O'Doherty Jensen & Laura Morch Andersen & Katrin Millock, 2008. "The Character of Demand in Mature Organic Food Markets: Great Britain and Denmark Compared," Post-Print halshs-00343683, HAL.
    16. Grunert, Klaus G. & Hieke, Sophie & Wills, Josephine, 2014. "Sustainability labels on food products: Consumer motivation, understanding and use," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 177-189.
    17. Wier, Mette & O'Doherty Jensen, Katherine & Andersen, Laura Mørch & Millock, Katrin, 2008. "The character of demand in mature organic food markets: Great Britain and Denmark compared," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 406-421, October.
    18. Liu, Tiantian & Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin, 2016. "A review of carbon labeling: Standards, implementation, and impact," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 68-79.
    19. Katharina Sammer & Rolf Wüstenhagen, 2006. "The influence of eco‐labelling on consumer behaviour – results of a discrete choice analysis for washing machines," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 185-199, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kyungcheon Min & Wansoo Hong, 2021. "The Effect of Food Sustainability and the Food Safety Climate on the Job Stress, Job Satisfaction and Job Commitment of Kitchen Staff," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Migena Proi & Emilia Cubero Dudinskaya & Simona Naspetti & Emel Ozturk & Raffaele Zanoli, 2023. "The Role of Eco-Labels in Making Environmentally Friendly Choices: An Eye-Tracking Study on Aquaculture Products with Italian Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Xingyuan Wang & Yingying Du & Yun Liu & Shuyang Wang, 2022. "Telling You More Fluently: Effect of the Joint Presentation of Eco-Label Information on Consumers’ Purchase Intention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Lucile Marty & Laura Arrazat & Gaëlle Arvisenet & Sophie Nicklaus & Stephanie Chambaron, 2021. "Protocol and statistical analysis plan - impact of environmental labelling on food choices: a randomized controlled trial in a virtual reality supermarket," Working Papers hal-03270668, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yokessa, Maïmouna & Marette, Stéphan, 2019. "A Review of Eco-labels and their Economic Impact," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 13(1-2), pages 119-163, April.
    2. Aysegul Kanay & Denis Hilton & Laetitia Charalambides & Jean-Baptiste Corrégé & Eva Inaudi & Laurent Waroquier & Stéphane Cézéra, 2021. "Making the carbon basket count: Goal setting promotes sustainable consumption in a simulated online supermarket," Post-Print hal-03403040, HAL.
    3. Soregaroli, Claudio & Ricci, Elena Claire & Stranieri, Stefanella & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Capri, Ettore & Castellari, Elena, 2021. "Carbon footprint information, prices, and restaurant wine choices by customers: A natural field experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    4. Rui Zhao & Dingye Wu & Sebastiano Patti, 2020. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Carbon Labeling Schemes in the Period 2007–2019," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Michael Grimm & Nathalie Luck & Franziska Steinhübel, 2023. "Consumers' willingness to pay for organic rice: Insights from a non‐hypothetical experiment in Indonesia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(1), pages 83-103, January.
    6. Chen, Xuqi & Gao, Yujuan & Gao, Zhifeng, 2022. "Impacts of color-coded nutrition facts panel and consumer responses," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322206, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Oliver Meixner & Felix Katt, 2020. "Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Food Safety Perceptions—A Choice-Based Willingness to Pay Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Shahjahan Ali & Shahnaj Akter & Csaba Fogarassy, 2021. "Analysis of Circular Thinking in Consumer Purchase Intention to Buy Sustainable Waste-To-Value (WTV) Foods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, May.
    9. Shahnaj Akter & Shahjahan Ali & Mária Fekete-Farkas & Csaba Fogarassy & Zoltán Lakner, 2023. "Why Organic Food? Factors Influence the Organic Food Purchase Intension in an Emerging Country (Study from Northern Part of Bangladesh)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Ankamah-Yeboah, Isaac & Nielsen, Max & Nielsen, Rasmus, 2016. "Price premium of organic salmon in Danish retail sale," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 54-60.
    11. Danilo Bertoni & Daniele Cavicchioli & Franco Donzelli & Giovanni Ferrazzi & Dario G. Frisio & Roberto Pretolani & Elena Claire Ricci & Vera Ventura, 2018. "Recent Contributions of Agricultural Economics Research in the Field of Sustainable Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-20, December.
    12. repec:zib:zbseps:v:2:y:2022:2:1:p:44-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Takahashi, Ryo & Todo, Yasuyuki & Funaki, Yukihiko, 2018. "How Can We Motivate Consumers to Purchase Certified Forest Coffee? Evidence From a Laboratory Randomized Experiment Using Eye-trackers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 107-121.
    14. Elofsson, Katarina & Bengtsson, Niklas & Matsdotter, Elina & Arntyr, Johan, 2016. "The impact of climate information on milk demand: Evidence from a field experiment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 14-23.
    15. Roman Ostapenko & Yuliia Herasymenko & Vitalii Nitsenko & Svitlana Koliadenko & Tomas Balezentis & Dalia Streimikiene, 2020. "Analysis of Production and Sales of Organic Products in Ukrainian Agricultural Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, April.
    16. Mahnaz Mansoor & Justin Paul, 2022. "Consumers' choice behavior: An interactive effect of expected eudaimonic well‐being and green altruism," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 94-109, January.
    17. Nathalie Gröfke & Valérie Duplat & Christopher Wickert & Brian Tjemkes, 2021. "A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Food Labelling for Environmental Sustainability: Attitudes, Perceived Barriers, and Solution Approaches towards the “Traffic Light Index”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-23, January.
    18. Francisco José Torres‐Ruiz & Manuela Vega‐Zamora & Manuel Parras‐Rosa, 2018. "Sustainable Consumption: Proposal of a Multistage Model to Analyse Consumer Behaviour for Organic Foods," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 588-602, May.
    19. Rui Zhao & Meng Yang & Jianxiao Liu & Linchuan Yang & Zhikang Bao & Xinyun Ren, 2020. "University Students’ Purchase Intention and Willingness to Pay for Carbon-Labeled Food Products: A Purchase Decision-Making Experiment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-15, September.
    20. Krystyna Mazurek-Łopacińska & Magdalena Sobocińska & Joanna Krupowicz, 2022. "Purchase Motives and Factors Shaping Consumer Behaviour on the Ecological Product Market (Poland Case Study)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-29, November.
    21. Phani Kumar Chintakayala & William Young & Ralf Barkemeyer & Michelle A. Morris, 2018. "Breaking niche sustainable products into the mainstream: Organic milk and free‐range eggs," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 1039-1051, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1581-:d:492018. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.