Synergy between health claims and sustainability labels: a “co-labelling” approach
(A2019-8525)

AUTHORS

Andrea Gröppel-Klein, Saarland University, Institute for Consumer & Behavioral Research; Claudia Franke, Saarland University, Institute for Consumer & Behavioral Research; Anja Spilski, Saarland University

KEYWORDS

Co-labelling; health claim; sustainability label credibility

ABSTRACT

Health has become a crucial factor for the communication policies of food producers and retailers. Thus, firms can use health claims as an effective tool to differentiate their products. However, we identified several critical issues concerning the efficiency of front-of-pack health claims. We investigated whether a “co-labelling”-strategy may enhance health claim`s impact by combining the claim with a “strong partner”: sustainability labels. We differentiated between organic and fair trade, the two most prevalent labels. Results show that the combination of a health claim with a sustainability label increases the health claim`s credibility. This then helps to convey the health message of the product more clearly which is reflected in a more positively perceived healthiness of the product, but this only applies to the co-labelling with an organic label. Simultaneously, the organic label can benefit from the co-labelling with the health claim in terms of increased credibility.