Jesper Clement

Food labels – an exploratory study into label information and what consumers see and understand

The food industry develops tasty and healthy food but fails to deliver the message to all consumers. The consumers’ background knowledge is essential for how they find and decode relevant elements in the cocktail of signs which fight for attention on food labels. In this exploratory study, we find evidence for dividing consumers into two profiles: one relying on general food knowledge and another using knowledge related to signpost labels. In a combined eyetracking and questionnaire survey we analyse the influence of background knowledge and identify different patterns of visual attention for the two consumer profiles. This underlines the complexity in choosing and designing the ‘right’ elements for a food package that consumers actually look at and are able to make rational use of. In spite of any regulation of food information provided by authorities, consumers will still be confronted with information which puzzles them. Given that the notion of being mislead must refer to information printed on the packaging and which has actually caught the given consumers visual attention, this exploratory study intends to pave the way for using eyetracking tools to better understand the link between regulations, package information, and consumer understanding. Implications and further research are discussed.

Assessing information on food packages

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an experimental study which aims at assessing the potentially misleading effect of graphic elements on food packaging. The authors call these elements potentially misleading elements (PMEs) as they can give customers false expectations. They are either highlighted numerical information (30 per cent fibre, 8 per cent fat, 100 per cent natural […]) or pictorial information with no relation to the product (e.g. images of happy people). Design/methodology/approach In a combined decision task monitored by eye-tracking and a subsequence survey, the authors tested the impact of PMEs on common products. Combining different pairs of products, where one product had a PME, whereas the other did not, the authors could evaluate if preference correlated with the presence of a PME. Findings The authors found both types of PMEs to have analogous effects on participants’ preferences and correlate with participants’ visual attention. The authors also found evidence for a positive influence on a later explicit justification for the specific choice. Research limitations/implications This study was conducted in a lab environment and solely related to health-related decisions. The authors still need to know if these findings are transferable to real in-store decisions and other needs such as high quality or low price. This calls for further research. Practical implications The topic is important for food companies, and it might become a priority in managing brand equity, combining consumer preferences, loyalty and communicative fairness. Originality/value Using eye-tracking and retrospective interviews brings new insights to consumer’s decision-making and how misleading potentially occurs.

Wearable Gaze Trackers: Mapping Visual Attention in 3D

The study of visual attention in humans relates to a wide range of areas such as: psychology, cognition, usability, and marketing. These studies have been limited to fixed setups with respondents sitting in front of a monitor mounted with a gaze tracking device. The introduction of wearable mobile gaze trackers allows respondents to move freely in any real world 3D environment, removing the previous restrictions.