DISPLAYING COMMON BUT PREVIOUSLY NEGLECTED HEALTH CLAIMS ON PRODUCT LABELS - UNDERSTANDING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES, DECEPTION, AND EDUCATION

An aim of the Food and Drug Administration food labeling regulations i s to ensure that manufacturers aid consumers in making choices regardi ng their diets by eliminating ''hollow'' health claims. Of particular concern are health claims made by one brand when the claim is inherent to the product category but has not been featured previously in adver tisements or on packaging. There is concern that consumers will use in formation provided by one brand about such an attribute to infer that the other brands in the product category do not possess the attribute and thus be misled. Results from three experiments show that this prac tice can mislead consumers and affect consumer inferences, use of the target attribute, and choice in favor of the brands displaying the att ribute. However, consumer understanding regarding the typicality of th e attribute in the producer category was improved when this practice w as employed. Furthermore, it was shown that improved consumer educatio n can be achieved without the deception associated with narrow (brand- specific) health claims by using broader (category-defined) claims. Fi nally, it was shown that an incentive should remain for manufacturers to use broader claims whenever consumers are likely to be choosing bet ween alternatives from broadly defined product categories (e.g., cooki ng oils versus peanut oils).