The perceived sweetness and price of bottled drinks’ silhouettes

Impact of warning label shapes on perceived healthfulness and consumer attention

Countries' regulations mandate front-of-package (FOP) labeling to promote awareness of healthy eating habits. In the Colombian context, this study examined the impact of FOP nutrient warnings on potato chip perceptions, considering the warning's shape. Experiment 1 found that warning shape (circle or octagon vs. control) had a similar effect on perceived healthfulness. Furthermore, the FOP warning reduced the perceived healthfulness of healthy chips but did not affect perceptions of potato chip packages. Experiment 2 assessed how warning shape influenced participants' attention to the warning. No differences were found between round and octagonal labels; however, the control condition showed higher fixation counts and fixation durations compared to the circular or octagonal conditions. The absence of significant findings regarding healthfulness perceptions and attention to FOP warnings suggests further research is needed to identify which label characteristics should be refined or whether additional public policies are required to enhance a population's nutritional opportunities. This study contributes to the FOP warning literature as more countries, particularly in Latin America, adopt warning labels to raise awareness and reduce the consumption of nutrient-poor foods. Therefore, practical and conceptual reasons exist for developing a unique and consistent label to encourage individuals to pause and consider their choices before consuming such products.

Creating psychometric scales for perceptual assessment of fruit juices' refreshing and thickness attributes

Persons look for beverages to satisfy thirst (refresh) and feel fulfilled (thick). However, refreshing and thickness are concepts that lack a measurement instrument that captures an accurate judgment of consumers' perceptions. This research aims to propose a tool to assess consumers' refreshing and thickness expectations of fruit juices. Items were developed through a two-stage qualitative-exploratory study, followed by a quantitative study describing the scale's composition using an Item Response Theory approach. Hence, we suggest a set of items to consider when measuring both concepts from a perception task. Moreover, results show that thickness and refreshing are distinct and independent ideas. We provide a theoretical contribution defining each construct and recognizing the attributes that best describe refreshing and thickness for five different fruit juices. Our methodological contribution is creating a scale for each of the concepts. Practically, developing a thickness and refreshing scale is useful for product developers and marketers who expect to satisfy consumers' needs for soft drinks.