The effect of food label cues on perceptions of quality and purchase intentions among high-involvement consumers with varying levels of nutrition knowledge.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether differences in nutrition knowledge affected how women (a high-involvement group) interpreted intrinsic cues (ingredient list) and extrinsic cues ("all natural" label) on food labels.
METHODS: A 2 (intrinsic cue) × 2 (extrinsic cue) × 2 (nutrition knowledge expert vs novice) within-subject factorial design was used. Participants were 106 female college students (61 experts, 45 novices). Dependent variables were perception of product quality and purchase intention.
RESULTS: As predicted by the elaboration likelihood model, experts used central route processing to scrutinize intrinsic cues and make judgments about food products. Novices used peripheral route processing to make simple inferences about the extrinsic cues in labels. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Consumers' levels of nutrition knowledge influenced their ability to process food labels. The United States Food and Drug Administration should regulate the "all natural" food label, because this claim is likely to mislead most consumers.