Food labeling failing to drive sustainable consumer behavior, finds Wageningen review

16 Feb 2022 --- Sustainability labels and classifications on F&B packaging could have a greater impact by combining labels and labeling systems, linking to other drivers of behavior and emphasizing other benefits such as health. These conclusions come as part of a recent literature review by Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands.

Commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the “Effective labeling of sustainable products” study found sustainability labels and classifications can have a positive impact on consumer acceptance and raise awareness about social issues, “but they are not actually driving more sustainable consumer behavior yet.”

For example, encouraging consumers to improve their dietary habits requires a scientific understanding of their choices. Wageningen has researched how information about sustainability on packaging influences the choices consumers make, and possible behavioral mechanisms to support behavioral change.

“Labeling appears to be mainly effective for consumers who are already motivated or informed on sustainability issues. Groups that do not engage in sustainable behaviors are also the ones that are not reached by labeling,” Dr. Marleen Onwezen, senior researcher in consumer behavior at Wageningen University, tells PackagingInsights.

“This disengaged group can be reached potentially by linking labeling to more egocentric values like convenience or taste and using psychological mechanisms to support acceptance, for example, positive emotions or social norms.”

Engaging consumers
Most studies show that labeling has some impact compared to an absence of labeling. In general, labeling accounted for 18% of consumer acceptance. The use of a fair trade logo appears to have the strongest positive effect.

Dr. Marleen Onwezen, senior researcher in consumer behavior at Wageningen University.The review also found it can be effective to communicate health benefits alongside environmental benefits on labels. Consumers are more likely to buy a product with combined environmental, fair trade and climate-neutral certification than one with individual labels.

Traffic-light labels (such as the green-yellow-red health score) also make it easier for consumers to choose an environmentally sustainable option. Combining labels seems to be a more effective approach than using individual labels, as having multiple separate labels can cause some confusion.

Label mistrust
Although studies reveal that labels increase awareness and the willingness to pay for sustainability, there is far less evidence that they actually influence consumer behavior. It appears that consumers don’t always fully understand or trust labels.

“Labeling has a signal function to reveal sustainability levels. In general, we see that consumers in the first instance follow more egocentric values like taste and price, and then they follow more sustainable drivers like environment or animal welfare,” explains Onwezen.

“This balance is changing over time, revealing that sustainability values become more and more relevant. The results reveal that labeling is only partially relevant. It affects consumer acceptance of products, though the impact on behavior is only small and mainly relevant for specific groups.”

Clarity increases trust
The success of a label depends on it being clear and recognizable. The clearer a label is, the more it is trusted, increasing consumers’ willingness to buy the product. However, labels cannot be overloaded with information.

Sustainability needs to be clearly communicated and relevant to the buyer. It’s effective to show that consumer choices have an impact and specify the real benefits of sustainable choices, such as the number of bees on a farm.The fair trade logo has the strongest positive effect on consumers. Moreover, the combination of health and sustainability communication consistently show positive effects (Credit: Wageningen University).

Subconscious targeting
Cognitive influencing is the main focus at present, and there is less of a focus on subconscious processes such as those of social environments. However, those processes can encourage environmentally-friendly consumer behavior, particularly among consumers who are less well informed or motivated.

“Purely providing the information is not enough to support behavior change. Finding ways to increase attention like with visual highlights and increase emotions with effective phrases like ‘feel proud’ or social norms like ‘76% of our clients value the environment’ might further support sustainable choices,” adds Onwezen.

“Another way might be to activate environmental identification, for example, with sustainable baskets, or prompts like ‘do you value the environment?’”

Supportive strategies can improve consumer behavior, such as communicating urgency, social norms, a sense of belonging or identification with a group that endorses sustainability and emotions. More research is needed in the subconscious targeting, according to the researchers.

Behind the label
More research is also needed for understanding what sort of combined labeling system would be most effective since having an even greater variety of labels is not likely to lead to greater clarity.

The researchers say the added value of traffic-light systems should be looked into and compared to existing labels to understand which groups are likely to benefit.

Meanwhile, consumers are more trusting of labels issued by independent organizations than those issued by a supermarket, for example. “So it’s important to think about the organization behind the label,” the researchers conclude.

By Joshua Poole

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