NCT05953246

Comparing Designs for Restaurant "Eco-Labels"

Comparing Designs for Environmental Sustainability "Eco-Labels" for Restaurant Menus

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 2,207 (actual)
• Sponsor: Stanford University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The aim of this study is to compare responses to 5 different types of labels for restaurant menus: 1) Control (non-sustainability-label: neutral labels not referencing environmental sustainability); 2) Numeric text-only sustainability label; 3) Endorsement text-only sustainability label; 4) Endorsement icon-only sustainability label; 5) Endorsement text-plus-icon sustainability label. Participants will be randomized to 1 of the 5 labeling arms above. Each participant will view 3 labels (shown in random order) from their randomly assigned labeling arm and respond to survey questions about each label (e.g., attention, perceived effectiveness).

Detailed description

This is an online randomized controlled trial. Investigators will recruit participants through a survey company to complete an online survey. In the study, participants will be randomized to 1 of 5 labeling arms: 1) Control (non-sustainability-label: neutral labels not referencing environmental sustainability); 2) Numeric text-only sustainability label; 3) Endorsement text-only sustainability label; 4) Endorsement icon-only sustainability label; 5) Endorsement text-plus-icon sustainability label. Participants will be randomized to 1 of the 5 labeling arms above. Each participant will view 3 labels (shown in random order) from their randomly assigned labeling arm and respond to survey questions about each label (e.g., attention, perceived effectiveness).

Conditions

• Food Preferences

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Neutral labels	Participants view neutral labels (QR codes with and without neutral text) for menu items
BEHAVIORAL	Numeric text-only sustainability labels	Participants view labels with numeric text depicting the greenhouse gas emissions associated with production of the menu item
BEHAVIORAL	Endorsement text-only sustainability labels	Participants view labels using text to endorse menu items as having low environmental impact
BEHAVIORAL	Endorsement icon-only sustainability labels	Participants view labels using icons to endorse menu items as having low environmental impact
BEHAVIORAL	Endorsement text-plus-icon sustainability labels	Participants view labels using text and icons to endorse menu items as having low environmental impact

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-08-07
• Primary completion: 2023-08-07
• Completion: 2023-08-07
• First posted: 2023-07-20
• Last updated: 2023-08-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States