Front-of-package Marketing on Fruit Drinks: Online RCT

President and Fellows of Harvard College

Status: Completed

Conditions: Consumer Preference; Consumer Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: front-of-package modification

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04811690

76336

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will test the independent and combined effects of front-of-package claims, imagery, nutrition disclosures, and added sugar warning labels on parents' purchases and perceptions of beverages for their children.

Full description

Fruit drinks are widely consumed by 0-5-year-olds. Parents purchase these drinks for their children in part due to misperceptions that they are healthful, which may be driven by front-of-package (FOP) marketing. The FDA is considering changes to FOP marketing regulations but lacks data on how label elements influence consumer behavior. Our study will test the independent and combined effects of FOP claims, imagery, nutrition disclosures, and added sugar warning labels on parents' purchases and perceptions of beverages for their children.

We will conduct an online randomized controlled trial with 5,000 racially/ethnically diverse primary caregivers of children aged 0-5 years. Participants will choose a beverage for their child in an online store and rate health perceptions of different fruit drinks. Participants will be randomized to see high-added-sugar beverages (>20% DV added sugar/serving) with 1 of 7 FOP label conditions: 1) vitamin C claim and fruit imagery (control); 2) imagery only; 3) claim only; 4) no claim or imagery; 5) claim, imagery, and % juice disclosure; 6) claim, imagery, and added sugar warning; or 7) claim, imagery, and added sugar warning w/teaspoons of added sugar.

Primary outcomes will include total calories and added sugar (grams) from chosen online store beverages. Secondary outcomes will include health perceptions and knowledge of added sugar and % juice content in low- and high-added-sugar fruit drinks.

This research will inform federal regulation to correct health misperceptions of sugary drinks.

Enrollment: 5,028 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Primary caregiver of a child 0-5 years old
• >= 18 years old
• U.S. citizen

Exclusion criteria

• Participants who complete the survey in less than 1/3 of the median completion time
• Observations from duplicate IP addresses (keep first observation that is unique)
• Participants who answer data integrity check incorrectly

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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5,028 participants in 7 patient groups

claim and imagery

Experimental group

Description:

control condition (status quo) showing a front-of-package (FOP) vitamin C claim and fruit imagery on all fruit-flavored drinks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: front-of-package modification

imagery only

Experimental group

Description:

FOP fruit imagery on all fruit-flavored drinks, no vitamin C claim on drinks high in added sugars (\>=20 %DV)

Treatment:

Behavioral: front-of-package modification

claim only

Experimental group

Description:

FOP vitamin C claim on all fruit-flavored drinks, no fruit imagery on drinks high in added sugars

Treatment:

Behavioral: front-of-package modification

no claim or imagery

Experimental group

Description:

No FOP vitamin C claim or fruit imagery on drinks high in added sugars

Treatment:

Behavioral: front-of-package modification

claim, imagery, and % juice disclosure

Experimental group

Description:

FOP fruit imagery, vitamin C claim, and % juice disclosure on all fruit-flavored drinks

Treatment:

Behavioral: front-of-package modification

claim, imagery, and added sugar warning

Experimental group

Description:

FOP fruit imagery and vitamin C claim on all fruit-flavored drinks; added sugar warning on drinks high in added sugar

Treatment:

Behavioral: front-of-package modification

claim, imagery, and added sugar warning with teaspoons of added sugar disclosure

Experimental group

Description:

FOP fruit imagery and vitamin C claim on all fruit-flavored drinks; added sugar warning with teaspoons of added sugar disclosure on drinks high in added sugar

Treatment:

Behavioral: front-of-package modification