Consumer use of health-related endorsements on food labels in the United Kingdom and Australia

The objective of this research was to examine how consumers use health-rela ted food endorsements on food labels. Three endorsement programs were exami ned: those of the two major retailers in the United Kingdom,Tesco and Sains bury's, and the "Pick the Tick" program of the National Heart Foundation of Australia. The main methodology used was protocol analysis. This involves the subject "thinking aloud" while performing a task-in this case, (a) shop ping normally and (b) shopping "healthily" for foods on a predetermined lis t-to generate a protocol. Each subject was also interviewed to investigate reported use of endorsements. Subjects were a quota sample (N = 44) of shop pers representative of the U.K. and Australian populations. Information abo ut the subjects, the protocols, and interview data were analyzed quantitati vely; the protocols were also analyzed qualitatively. Sainsbury's and Austr alian shoppers never used the endorsements when shopping but Tesco shoppers did, albeit rarely. Tesco shoppers used the endorsement in complex ways an d not just as a trigger to food selection. They sometimes used the endorsem ent to reject endorsed foods. Subjects claimed to use the endorsements even though the protocol analysis revealed no actual use. There are features of the Tesco endorsement program that make it more helpful to consumers than the other programs.