Designed to Deceive: The Psychology Behind India’s Misleading Food Labels

Abstract

Front of package labels have long been viewed as a significant policy tool in encouraging improved consumption behaviour by having an impact on the food choices consumers make. The purpose of the study is to investigate how various label designs can influence consumers’ healthiness perceptions, trust, and intentions to consume products. A survey-based experiment was conducted using four distinct label designs randomly assigned to respondents. The results indicate that label design significantly influences perceived healthiness and consumption intention, but has a limited impact on trust. Specifically, Label C significantly reduced perceived healthiness and consumption intention, while Label D also reduced consumption intention. Label B did not show significant differences compared to the reference label. These findings suggest that certain front-of-package label designs may be more effective in discouraging consumption of less healthy products.