Pulse Report: Label Reading From a Consumer Perspective

SUMMARY

Do consumers read product labels on today's consumer packaged goods?

Who can blame consumers for being confused or even dazed when it comes to reading, never mind absorbing, the information being disseminated in the media regarding food and beverages and then trying to make sense of what they are seeing on product labels?

As food and beverage product packaging begins to resemble the glut of logos and symbols plastered from hood to trunk of NASCAR auto racers, marketers are seeking to gain a deeper understanding on what are the most and least effective verbal and pictorial elements of food and beverage packaging. This Pulse Report, Label Reading from a Consumer Perspective, provides insights on those elements of packaging that are important to consumers and why.

What's Inside

This report seeks to provide insights on commonly used label components, and how such elements, ranging from nutrition fact panels to recycling symbols, are currently used in the context of growing interests in product ingredients, food safety and certifications of ethical, health or green production. The report examines:

• Consumer perceptions of themselves as food and beverage label readers
• Reasons for reading food and beverage labels
• Top-of-mind label components of importance
• Most important components of a package label and reasons for use
• Frequency of label component use
• Country of origin and importance on labels
• Perceptions of label health claims credibility, reliability, regulation
• Occasions for reading labels
• Desires for nutrition labels in restaurants and food service
• Awareness, trust and understanding of a wide variety of wellness and sustainability related symbols and icons

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Key Findings

Chapter I . Label Reading Behavior

• Background: An Era of Label Profusion
• Elements of Lifestyle that Lead to Reading Labels
• Label Reading Occasions During the Cycle of Package Use

Chapter II . Package Elements: Consumer Use of Label Components

• Importance Ratings of Six Common Label Components
  • The nutrition facts panel as the most important element of a label:
  • The ingredient list as the most important component of a label:
  • The ingredient claim symbol as the most important component of a label:
  • Health claims as the most important component of a label:
  • Country of origin labeling (COOL) as the most important component of a label:
  • Recycling information as the most important component of a label:
• The Most Commonly Used Label Components: Rating 16 Package Elements

Chapter III . Attitudes Toward Health Claims, Origin and Restaurant Labels

• Attitudes Toward Health Claim Labels and Symbols
• Attitudes Toward Country of Origin/Source Labels
• Attitudes Toward Nutrition Labeling: Restaurants and Retail Prepred Foods

Chapter IV . Awareness, Understanding and Trust of Symbols and Icons

• Awareness, Understanding and Trust of Ethical, Sustainable and Dietary Symbols and Icon

Chapter V . Conclusions

Appendix I .

• The World of Wellness
  • Core, Mid-level and Periphery

Appendix II . Methodology

• Quantitative Methods
• Qualitative Methods

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

• Figure 1. Frequency of label reading compared to a year ago.
• Figure 2. How often are consumers reading information on product labels?
• Figure 3. Who reads product labels?
• Figure 4. Why consumers read information on the product label.
• Figure 5. Do men and women differ in what they read on product labels?
• Figure 6. Over the cycle of package use, where do consumers examine or read product labels?
• Figure 7. Label components of a food or beverage product most important to consumers.
• Figure 8. Most frequently used components of a product label
• Figure 9. Less frequently used components of a product label
• Figure 10. General consumer attitudes towards health claims on labels.
• Figure 11. Consumer attitudes towards variety and regulation of health claims on product labels
• Figure 12. Should country of origin labeling (COOL) be mandatory?
• Figure 13. Importance of knowing the origin of a food or beverage product or ingredient
• Figure 14. Should nutrition and ingredient information on prepared foods (in deli, cafeteria, restaurants) be mandatory or voluntary?
• Table 1. Awareness, Understanding and Trust of Six Familiar Symbols and Icons
• Table 2. Awareness, Understanding and Trust of Seven Less Familiar Symbols and Icons
• Figure 15. Awareness for symbol or icon.
• Figure 16. Consumer understanding for symbol or icons
• Figure 17. Symbols and icons consumers trust.
• Segment Sizes in the World of Wellness

• Table 1. Awareness, Understanding and Trust of Six Familiar Symbols and Icons
• Table 2. Awareness, Understanding and Trust of Seven Less Familiar Symbols and Icons