Consumer Choice of Pre-Packaged Foods that Vary by Nutrition Information and Price

INTERVENTION: Respondents will be presented with 8 choice sets, each containing images of four hypothetical food packs, and will be asked to select which product they would like to purchase (or if they would not purchase any product from the choice set). Participants will be randomised to one of the three front‐of‐pack label conditions; the Daily Intake Guide, Multiple Traffic Lights or the Health Star Rating. The food pack images will either contain the specified front‐of‐pack label or no label. The food packs will also vary according to the following attributes: healthiness (3 levels), health claims (4 levels), price (3 levels) and food type (4 levels). Each food pack will contain one level of each attribute. All attributes and their levels are described in detail below. Front‐of‐pack label: 4 levels: no label (control condition), Daily Intake Guide, Multiple Traffic Lights or the Health Star Rating. Each participant will only see one type of label (or no label) across all products. Food type: 4 levels: corn flakes, cookies, pizza, yogurt. Each participant will be exposed to all 4 levels of this attribute (i.e. they will be presented with 2 packs of each food type). Health claims: 4 levels: no claim (control condition) nutrient content claim, general level claim, higher level claim. Price: Contains 3 levels: cheap, moderate price, expensive. Healthiness: Contains 3 levels: unhealthy, moderately healthy, healthy. Each choice set will be presented for 30 seconds. Participants will complete the experiment online via their own personal computer. Participants will have the option to complete the experiment in one session or log out and return to it at a later time. CONDITION: Coronary heart disease Hypertension Obesity Type 2 diabetes PRIMARY OUTCOME: The aggregate utility provided by the different levels of each attribute, as measured by the presence/absence of different attribute levels on the food pack image that is selected within a choice set. SECONDARY OUTCOME: Whether a choice was made or not (i.e., due to timer running out or respondents opting out of the decision). INCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants must be aged over 10 and currently reside in Australia.