Comparing Designs for Restaurant "Eco-Labels"

Stanford University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Food Preferences

Treatments: Behavioral: Endorsement text-plus-icon sustainability labels; Behavioral: Endorsement icon-only sustainability labels; Behavioral: Numeric text-only sustainability labels; Behavioral: Neutral labels; Behavioral: Endorsement text-only sustainability labels

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05953246

69580b

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of this study is to compare responses to 5 different types of labels for restaurant menus: 1) Control (non-sustainability-label: neutral labels not referencing environmental sustainability); 2) Numeric text-only sustainability label; 3) Endorsement text-only sustainability label; 4) Endorsement icon-only sustainability label; 5) Endorsement text-plus-icon sustainability label. Participants will be randomized to 1 of the 5 labeling arms above. Each participant will view 3 labels (shown in random order) from their randomly assigned labeling arm and respond to survey questions about each label (e.g., attention, perceived effectiveness).

Full description

This is an online randomized controlled trial. Investigators will recruit participants through a survey company to complete an online survey. In the study, participants will be randomized to 1 of 5 labeling arms: 1) Control (non-sustainability-label: neutral labels not referencing environmental sustainability); 2) Numeric text-only sustainability label; 3) Endorsement text-only sustainability label; 4) Endorsement icon-only sustainability label; 5) Endorsement text-plus-icon sustainability label. Participants will be randomized to 1 of the 5 labeling arms above. Each participant will view 3 labels (shown in random order) from their randomly assigned labeling arm and respond to survey questions about each label (e.g., attention, perceived effectiveness).

Enrollment: 2,207 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participants will be US adults
• Ages 18 or older
• With an over-sample of adults (50% of total sample) 18-29 years

Exclusion criteria

• Younger than 18
• Non-US

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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2,207 participants in 5 patient groups

Neutral labels

Active Comparator group

Description:

Labels shown will be QR codes with and without neutral text (i.e., not mentioning environmental impacts)

Treatment:

Behavioral: Neutral labels

Numeric text-only sustainability labels

Experimental group

Description:

Labels shown will contain numeric text depicting the greenhouse gas emissions associated with production of the menu item

Treatment:

Behavioral: Numeric text-only sustainability labels

Endorsement text-only sustainability labels

Experimental group

Description:

Labels shown will contain text endorsing menu items as having low environmental impact

Treatment:

Behavioral: Endorsement text-only sustainability labels

Endorsement icon-only sustainability labels

Experimental group

Description:

Labels shown will contain icons endorsing menu items as having low environmental impact

Treatment:

Behavioral: Endorsement icon-only sustainability labels

Endorsement text-plus-icon sustainability labels

Experimental group

Description:

Labels shown will contain both text and icons endorsing menu items as having low environmental impact

Treatment:

Behavioral: Endorsement text-plus-icon sustainability labels