Nutri-score label influence on food purchase intention depends on consumers' expectations of healthiness.

Front-of-Package (FOP) nutrition labels are designed to convey the healthiness of food products and help consumers make healthier choices. This research examines how French consumers' responses to a FOP nutrition label-Nutri-Score-are influenced by their initial expectations regarding the overall healthiness of products. Based on expectancy-disconfirmation theory, we hypothesize that when products have a worse-than-expected Nutri-Score, the display of the FOP label will enhance guilt perception and reduce purchase intention. Conversely, when products have a better-than-expected score, the label display will diminish guilt perception and increase purchase intention. A pilot study, two controlled lab experiments, and one field study test our proposition. While in Studies 1 and 2 participants were randomly assigned to the label conditions (Nutri-Score vs. control), the prior expectations of healthiness were a non-randomized factor (Studies: Pilot, 1, and 2). Study 1 (N = 128) validates our proposition with judgments of an unhealthy food item (Nutri-Score-D). Study 2 (N = 147) extends these findings to both healthy and unhealthy food products. When the Nutri-Score grade was better-than-expected, it reduced guilt and boosted purchase intention, even for low nutritional quality foods (Nutri-Score-D). Conversely, a worse-than-expected Nutri-Score increased guilt and lowered purchase intention, even for healthier products (Nutri-Score-B). A field study (1680 sales) suggests that including the Nutri-Score label to products sold in a cafeteria can increase the sales of products labeled D. We show that a nutrition label may, in some cases, increase purchase intentions of unhealthy products and decrease purchase intentions of healthy ones.