Overcoming consumer scepticism toward food labels: The role of multisensory experience

- Antecedents and consequences of consumer scepticism toward food labels were studied.
- Consumers were more sceptical toward the hedonic label than toward the health label.
- The hedonic label had a positive effect on consumer responses to the hedonic product.
- This effect was more pronounced in the multisensory presentation condition.
- Multisensory experience may alter consumer scepticism toward food labels.

More and more information labels appear on the front of food packages, increasing the complexity of consumer decision-making and enhancing consumer scepticism toward food labels. It is important to evaluate the efficacy of information communicated to consumers. The experimental study among 209 Dutch consumers compared the effect of health and hedonic labels on consumer scepticism toward the labels and consumer responses to food products (apple juice and a chocolate cookie) under three presentation conditions (visual, visual-tactile and multisensory). The results demonstrated that consumers were more sceptical toward the hedonic label than toward the health label. The influence of consumer scepticism on product experience, product evaluation and purchase intention varied for different product categories. For a hedonic product (a chocolate cookie), the hedonic label had a more positive effect on consumer responses compared to the health label. The results also showed that the multisensory presentation reduced scepticism and enhanced product evaluation for the hedonic product compared to the visual and tactile presentations. The results suggest that multisensory experience may alter consumer scepticism toward food labels and thus product evaluation and consumer choice. Our findings can be useful for food manufacturers and policy makers in evaluating the efficacy of food labels and information presented on food packages.