Ratings, labels, scales… the challenge of labeling to promote sustainable eating
What information should be highlighted on packaging (and how) to encourage consumers to choose products that are most aligned with sustainable development goals?
Béatrice Siadou-Martin, University of Montpellier; Fatiha Fort, Montpellier SupAgro and Gilles Séré de Lanauze, IAE Montpellier
Awareness of the potentially negative effects of our consumption is growing among the public. The urgency is clear: in France, according to the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), in 2019, a quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and 23% of its total energy consumption came from our food. New legislation is therefore attempting to spark a widespread movement toward more sustainable consumption.
However, despite good intentions, behavior does not always follow suit. This gap is partly due to issues related to information. According to a report published in October 2021 by the European Commission, 29% of consumers view the lack of information on product sustainability as a major barrier to adopting more sustainable consumption behaviors, and 27% cite the lack of information on product repairability as a concern.
Accurate and objective information on product packaging is therefore essential to encourage consumers to align their behavior with environmental and social concerns, foster attitudes toward the most sustainable products, and influence purchasing intentions. This is what we sought to explore in a recent study focused on the food sector.
Too much information?
The task is proving to be complicated: there are many constraints. The often limited size of packaging (which is also an environmental imperative) frequently results in an overload of complex information if one is to take into account all aspects of sustainable development: economic, environmental, and social. Resource conservation, environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, safeguarding public health, protecting workers and consumers… there are many factors that need to be highlighted.
Should we focus on providing more explanations and positive justifications, or should we prioritize clarity, comprehensibility, and credibility by forcefully conveying a message of commitment—even if it is simplified? Often, the environmental aspect takes center stage. Are ecological arguments more effective than social ones?
Most product sustainability labels and other sustainability claims take the form of either a single score that does not cite any specific factual evidence, or a multi-criteria scale. This is, in fact, the option recommended by ADEME: a multi-criteria assessment based on a product life cycle analysis that measures the quantifiable environmental impacts of the product throughout its life cycle, from design to market release.
Displaying information is effective
Our experiment involved showing 161 participants a photograph of a product, first without any information and then with information regarding its sustainability. A total of eight information presentations were tested: in addition to the control condition, three display formats (multi-criteria scale, overall score, and “sustainable product” logo) and two types of sustainability information (environmental, social, and a combination of both) were presented to participants. After reviewing this information, consumers indicated their attitude—positive or negative—toward the product and their purchase intention. The study was conducted on three products—wine, Comté cheese, and foie gras—each presenting different sustainability challenges.
The results first confirm that product sustainability claims—whether environmental or social—have a positive influence on purchase intentions in all cases. In fact, an amplifying effect of these impacts becomes apparent when both aspects are presented together. For the county, the attitude toward the product ( “I like this product” ) is rated at 4.28 (out of 5) when environmental information is present, and remains similar when social information is present (4.29); however, it increases significantly (4.41) when both types of information are present. It stands at 4.16 without any information. The same pattern emerges for purchase intention: 3.80 when environmental information is present, 3.75 when social information is present, 3.99 when both types of information are present, and 3.66 without any information.
Logos, which aren't very effective
We then compared three different ways of presenting this information: a dual multi-criteria scale with three environmental criteria and three social criteria; a dual overall rating (environmental and social); and a summary logo based on the principle of eco-labels. The results show varying levels of effectiveness depending on the pillar of sustainable development under consideration. The overall rating appears to be more effective than the multi-criteria scale for environmental labeling; the opposite is true for social labeling. This could be due to a higher degree of abstraction regarding environmental issues in consumers’ minds. In all cases, however, both the overall rating and the multi-criteria scale produce greater positive effects on attitude and intention when compared to a summary logo.
While the overall superiority of the general score for social aspects and that of the multi-criteria scale for environmental aspects is generally established, statistical analyses conducted at the product level suggest that these findings should be qualified. For foie gras, no difference was found in the format of environmental labeling. Could this be related to the sustainability issues surrounding these products? Foie gras production is particularly linked to animal welfare, whereas the wine sector is more in the spotlight for its use of pesticides. Consumers’ needs for information and education would therefore differ.
When sustainable advertising focuses on certain approaches rather than others, it can serve as a valuable tool for raising awareness and educating the public. This applies both to brands working to improve their products and to policymakers seeking to encourage responsible consumer behavior.
This research received funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR) under the program “Environmental, Social, and Territorial Sustainability of Processed Food Products.” The ANR funds project-based research in France. Its mission is to support and promote the development of basic and applied research across all disciplines, and to strengthen the dialogue between science and society. For more information, visit theANR website.
Béatrice Siadou-Martin, Professor of Management Sciences, University of Montpellier; Fatiha Fort, Professor of Marketing, Montpellier SupAgro and Gilles Séré de Lanauze, Associate Professor of Marketing, IAE Montpellier
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Readthe original article.