How do consumer characteristics influence responses to nutritional warnings

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to explore the influence of consumer characteristics on purchase decisions when facing products with nutritional warnings a few days after their implementation in Uruguay. A non-probabilistic sample of 917 participants was obtained using an advertisement on social media. Participants were asked if they had seen the warning signs when making their food purchases and if they had seen the warnings on any product they intended to buy. Participants who answered affirmately (n= 616) were asked about their purchase decision by answering the question “What have you done with the product?” using the following response options: ‘I purchased it anyway’, ‘I purchased a similar product with fewer excess signs’, ‘I purchased a similar product without excess signs’, ‘I didn’t purchase the product or any similar one’. Univariate and multivariate multinomial logistic regression models were used to explore the influence of individual variables on participants’ likelihood of having taken different decisions when facing a product with warnings. Results showed that participants older than 55 years were more likely to react to the warnings by purchasing a similar product with fewer warnings or by not purchasing any product. Likelihood of modifying purchase decisions due to the inclusion of the warnings was associated with a frequent consumption of natural and minimally processed foods and a low consumption frequency of ultra-processed products. These results provide insights to target efforts to promote the use of nutritional warnings in decision making.