Which Front-of-Package Nutrition Label Is Better? The Influence of Front-of-Package Nutrition Label Type on Consumers’ Healthy Food Purchase Behavior

To help consumers understand the healthfulness of food and make healthy food choices, manufacturers are increasingly providing front-of-package nutrition labels. However, not all types of front-of-package nutrition labels can promote consumers’ healthy food purchase behavior. We explored the impact of front-of-package nutrition label type on the consumer purchase behavior of healthy food through three experiments. The results show that evaluative (vs. objective) front-of-package nutrition labels can improve consumer purchase intention and willingness to pay for healthy food. The spokesperson type moderates the influence of front-of-package nutrition labels on consumers’ healthy food purchase behavior. Specifically, when the spokesperson type is a typical consumer, consumers are more willing to buy healthy foods with evaluative nutrition labels than those with objective nutrition labels. When the spokesperson type is a star, consumers are more willing to buy healthy food with objective nutrition labels (vs. evaluative nutrition labels). Finally, this study provides feasible suggestions for marketers to select appropriate front-of-package nutrition labels.