Impacts of Warning Labels on Ultra-Processed Foods

Not Applicable

Completed

Interventions: Behavioral: Health Warning Label
Behavioral: Identity Warning Label
Other: Barcode Label

Brief Summary: Purpose: The overall purpose of this study is to identify the impacts of an ultra-processed (UPF) health warning label and UPF identify warning label compared to a control label (i.e., a barcode).

Participants: \~4,000 US Latino adults of parental age (18-55 years), approximately 50% of whom will have limited English proficiency, recruited from a Latino-focused panel company.

Procedures: Participants will be randomly assigned to view food products with one of three label types: health warning labels, identity labels, or barcode control labels. Participants will be asked a series of questions about the products and the label they were assigned.

Detailed Description: On the study platform (Qualtrics), participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 3 arms with equal probability: a UPF health warning label, a UPF identity label, or a barcode control label. Participants will view four products (a fruit-flavored drink, pretzels, a yogurt, and a breakfast cereal) displayed in random order, each with a label displayed on the front of package according to the participants' study arm. Participants will complete a 13-item online survey to assess each product as to a) whether the product is ultra-processed; b) perceptions of healthfulness; c) intentions to purchase the product.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Health Warning Label	Health Warning Label	Participants will view four products (a fruit-flavored drink, pretzels, a yogurt, and a breakfast cereal) each with a health warning label displayed on the front of package.
Identity Warning Label	Identity Warning Label	Participants will view four products (a fruit-flavored drink, pretzels, a yogurt, and a breakfast cereal) each with an identity warning label displayed on the front of package.
Barcode Label	Barcode Label	Participants will view four products (a fruit-flavored drink, pretzels, a yogurt, and a breakfast cereal) each with a barcode control label displayed on the front of package.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Identification of a product as ultra-processed	Immediately after exposure to intervention, assessed during 1-time online study visit.	Correct identification of a product as ultra-processed. Measured with the question, "Do you think this product is ultra-processed?" Response options are Yes, No, and I'm not sure.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Intentions to purchase ultra-processed products	Immediately after exposure to intervention, assessed during 1-time online study visit.	Measured with the question, "How likely would you be to purchase this product in the next week, if it were available?" Likert responses are on a 1 to 5 scale, from "Not at all likely" (coded as 1) to "Extremely likely" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing a higher intention to purchase ultra-processed products.
Perceived message effectiveness	Immediately after exposure to intervention, assessed during 1-time online study visit.	Measured with the question, "How much does this message discourage you from wanting to consume an ultra-processed food or drink?" Likert responses are on a 1 to 5 scale, from "Not at all" (coded as 1) to "Very much" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing a higher perceived message effectiveness.
Perceived product healthfulness of ultra-processed products	Immediately after exposure to intervention, assessed during 1-time online study visit.	Measured with the question, "How good or bad for your health would it be to consume this product every day?" Likert responses are on a 1 to 5 scale, from "Very bad" (coded as 1) to "Very good" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing a higher perceived healthfulness.

Locations (1): UNC Carolina Population Center
🇺🇸
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States