Developing and Evaluating Product Messaging
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
Purpose: To assess the impact of taxes, warnings, and a combination of taxes and warnings on US adults' decisions to purchase products that contain red meat in an online grocery store.
Procedures (methods): Participants will be recruited from Prime Panels (an online panel research company). Following online consent, participants will be assigned to one of four trial arms: 1) Control (no warning and no tax), 2) Warnings (all products that contain red meat have a health warning and environmental warning), 3) Tax (30% tax on products that contain red meat), and 4) Combined warning and tax (all products that contain red meat will have the two warnings and a 30% tax). Then, participant will enter an online grocery store reflecting their assigned arm. The participant will be instructed to complete a shopping task in the online grocery store. After completing the shopping task, participants will be redirected to an online survey and answer a series of questions about the shopping task, labels (excluding tax and control groups), and taxes (excluding warning and control groups). Questions will also include standard demographic and health related variables.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
N/A |
Detailed Description
Participants will be recruited from Prime Panels (an online panel research company). Following online consent, participants will be randomly assigned to one of four trial arms affecting the appearance of an online grocery store. Once in the online grocery store, participants will complete a shopping task. The participants will have 9 specified items to add to their shopping cart (1 pizza, 1 burrito, Burger patties [meat or vegetarian], Breakfast sausages [meat or vegetarian], 1 frozen individual meal, 1 loaf of bread, 1 sandwich filling [for example, ham, turkey, or peanut butter], 1 pack of tortillas, 1 taco filling [for example, steak, chicken, or beans]). Participants will be informed that they will not be spending any of their own money to complete the shopping task. After completing the shopping task, participants will be redirected to a survey. They will provide self-reported responses to survey questions (e.g. perceived healthfulness from eating red meat, perceived risk of cancer from eating red meat, thinking about the health/environmental harms of food products). Participants will also answer demographic and health related questions.
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Other: Control Products that contain red meat will not have warning labels or an increase in price. |
Other: Control
Participants will complete a shopping task in the online grocery store, and the products that contain red meat will not have warning labels or a 30% increase in price.
|
| Experimental: Warning Labels The warning labels are black octagons with white text that appear next to images of products that contain red meat. One label says "WARNING: Eating red meat contributes to colon and rectal cancer" and the other label says "WARNING: Eating red meat harms the environment." |
Other: Warning Labels
While completing the shopping task in the online grocery store, the health and environmental warning labels will appear next to the image of every product that contains red meat.
|
| Experimental: Tax The tax is a 30% increase in the price of products that contain red meat. |
Other: Tax
While completing the shopping task in the online grocery store, all products containing red meat will have a 30% increase in price.
|
| Experimental: Combined Warning Labels and Tax The Combined Warning Labels and Tax arm features both the warning labels and tax. The warning labels are black octagons with white text that appear next to images of products that contain red meat. One label says "WARNING: Eating red meat contributes to colon and rectal cancer" and the other label says "WARNING: Eating red meat harms the environment." The tax is a 30% increase in the price of red meat products. |
Other: Combined Warning Labels and Tax
While completing the shopping task in the online grocery store, all products containing red meat will have the health and environmental warning labels appear next to the product image and a 30% increase in price.
|
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- Count of Products that Contain Red Meat [During ~15 minute shopping task]
The number of products in a participant's shopping basket that contain red meat.
- Percentage of Red Meat Containing Products [During ~15 minute shopping task]
The percentage of products in a participant's shopping basket that contain red meat.
Secondary Outcome Measures
- Total Saturated Fat [During ~15 minute shopping task]
Total grams of saturated fat of products in a participant's shopping basket. This will be calculated by adding together the total saturated fat from each product in the participant's shopping basket. Saturated fat for each product will come from the product's nutrition facts panel. All products in the store are real life products that have designated nutrition facts panels.
- Total Sodium [During ~15 minute shopping task]
Total milligrams of sodium of products in a participant's shopping basket. This will be calculated by adding together the total sodium from each product in the participant's shopping basket. Sodium for each product will come from the product's nutrition facts panel. All products in the store are real life products that have designated nutrition facts panels.
- Total Calories [During ~15 minute shopping task]
Total calories of products in a participant's shopping basket. This will be calculated by adding together the total calories from each product in the participant's shopping basket. Calories for each product will come from the product's nutrition facts panel. All products in the store are real life products that have designated nutrition facts panels.
- Perceived Healthfulness [During ~10 minute survey]
Perceived healthfulness of eating red meat. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a higher amount of the construct.
- Perceived Cancer Risk [During ~10 minute survey]
Perceived risk of colon and rectal cancer from eating red meat. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a higher amount of the construct.
- Perceived Environmental Risk [During ~10 minute survey]
Perceived risk of environmental harms from eating red meat. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a higher amount of the construct.
- Cognitive Elaboration (Health) [During ~10 minute survey]
Thinking about the health harms of food products while completing the shopping task. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a higher amount of the construct.
- Cognitive Elaboration (Environment) [During ~10 minute survey]
Thinking about the environmental harms of food products while completing the shopping task. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a higher amount of the construct.
- Cognitive Elaboration (Price) [During ~10 minute survey]
Thinking about the price of food products while completing the shopping task. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a higher amount of the construct.
- Specific Perceived Healthfulness [During ~10 minute survey]
Perceived healthfulness of specific red meat products (burgers, pepperoni pizza, and deli ham). Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with lower scores representing worse for health and higher scores representing better for health.
- Specific Perceived Environmental Risk [During ~10 minute survey]
Perceived environmental harm of specific red meat products (burgers, pepperoni pizza, and deli ham). Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with lower scores representing worse for the environment and higher scores representing better for the environment.
- Specific Perceived Cost [During ~10 minute survey]
Perceived cost of specific red meat products (burgers, pepperoni pizza, and deli ham). Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with lower scores representing less expensive and higher scores representing more expensive.
- Intention to Reduce [During ~10 minute survey]
Intention to reduce red meat consumption in the next 30 days. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a higher amount of the construct.
Other Outcome Measures
- Tax Support [During ~10 minute survey]
Support of policy for taxes on red meat products in the U.S. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a greater deal of support
- Health Warning Label Support [During ~10 minute survey]
Support of policy for health warning labels on red meat products in the U.S. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a greater deal of support.
- Environmental Warning Label Support [During ~10 minute survey]
Support of policy for environmental warning labels on red meat products in the U.S. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a greater deal of support.
- Acceptability [During ~10 minute survey]
Acceptability of the online grocery store. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a higher amount of agreement. Acceptability of the online grocery store is measured using 3 items adapted from Waterlander et al. (2018). Responses to the 3 items will be averaged to create an acceptability score. Prompt: Say whether you agree or disagree with the following statements. I could easily find all of the food and beverages I was looking for in the online grocery store. There were enough food and beverage options in the online grocery store. This online grocery store felt like a real online grocery store.
- Ease of store [During ~10 minute survey]
Ease of use of the online grocery store. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing more agreement that the online grocery store is easy to use.
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
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18 years or older
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Consumes red meat at least once per week.
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Responsible for at least 50% of grocery shopping for the household.
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Lives in the United States
Exclusion Criteria:
- Individuals who have participated in research studies from previous aims of this research.
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carolina Population Center | Chapel Hill | North Carolina | United States | 27516 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Wellcome Trust
- University of Edinburgh
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Lindsey S Taillie, PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Principal Investigator: Lindsay Jaacks, PhD, University of Edinburgh
Study Documents (Full-Text)
More Information
Publications
None provided.- 19-3349
- K01HL147713