“Pick the Tick” The Impact of Health Endorsements on Consumers’ Food Choices

To determine the efficiency of health-related endorsements in influencing consumer choice we report findings from two separate, unique discrete choice experiments (DCEs) involving fresh packaged beef steaks and seafood. In addition to quality and production-related attributes, the beef and seafood products also displayed a health endorsement: the Australian National Heart Foundation “Pick the Tick” certification. Another, more recently introduced health claim, “2 Serves a Week” was also included in the seafood experiment. Consumer awareness of the “Pick the Tick” certification was higher than any other extrinsic claim considered in the experiments. Furthermore, in both experiments, “Pick the Tick” had the highest impact and value relative to other extrinsic product cues, however, its impact on consumers’ choices was relatively low compared to intrinsic product characteristics and price. In both experiments, two segments of consumers: health-concerned consumers and premium-oriented consumers were more likely to value and use the “Pick the Tick” health-endorsement. The insignificance of the relatively new “2 Serves a Week” health claim in the analysis of the seafood experiment suggests that the simple addition of a food health claim alone will not impact consumer choice. Rather, food health endorsement programs require credible third-party certifiers as well as considerable investment in promotion before consumers become aware, trust and use them to guide food choices.