Impact of Front-of-package Labels on Weight Bias Among Latines

University of North Carolina (UNC)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Weight Prejudice

Treatments: Behavioral: Separated interpretive magnifying glass icon label; Behavioral: Interpretive text-only label; Behavioral: Numerical label; Behavioral: Interpretive magnifying glass icon label

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06293937

24-0300b

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this experiment is to examine the effects on explicit weight bias of a selection task using 4 different types of front-of-package food labels to select healthy or unhealthy foods among a sample of Latine and low English proficiency adults. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are:

• Does the use of different front-of-package label designs in a selection task lead to different effects on explicit weight bias among Latine and low English proficiency consumers?
• Does the use of different front-of-package label designs in a selection task lead to different effects on attribution of personal responsibility for body weight among Latine and low English proficiency consumers?

Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 4 types of front-of-package label designs. They will view 3 sets of products (frozen meals, frozen pizzas, and frozen desserts), shown in random order. For each product set, participants will view 3 products shown in random arrangement, each with participants' randomly assigned label shown on the front of package. After viewing all 3 product types, participants will answer questions about explicit weight bias and attribution of responsibility for body weight. Researchers will compare results across label designs.

Full description

This study aims to determine if the use of different front-of-package label types in a selection task leads to different effects on explicit weight bias and attribution of responsibility for body weight among Latine and low English proficiency (LEP) consumers. A Latine-focused panel company will recruit 4,000 US Latine adults of parental age (18-55 years), approximately 50% of whom will have low English proficiency (LEP). In a between-subjects experiment, researchers will randomize participants to 1 of 4 types of front-of-package labels: a numerical label, an interpretive text-only label, an interpretive label with a magnifying glass icon, or separated interpretive labels with a magnifying glass icon. Participants will first perform a selection task for a parent study in which they will view their assigned label on 3 sets of products (with 3 products per set) and select the product they believe is most and least healthy and the product they most want to purchase. After this selection task, participants will answer questions measuring this study's outcomes: explicit weight bias (primary outcome) and attribution of personal responsibility of body weight (secondary outcome).

Enrollment: 3,306 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Identifying as Latine or Hispanic
• Ages 18-55 years old
• Residing in the United States

Exclusion criteria

• Not identifying as Latine or Hispanic
• Less than 18 or greater than 55 years old
• Not residing in the United States

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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3,306 participants in 4 patient groups

Numerical label

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Numerical label

Interpretive text-only label

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Interpretive text-only label

Interpretive magnifying glass icon label

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Interpretive magnifying glass icon label

Separated interpretive magnifying glass icon label

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Separated interpretive magnifying glass icon label