A well-visualized effect: How nutritional content–equivalent labels influence healthfulness perceptions

Abstract

Consumers are increasingly relying on nutrition labels to assess the healthfulness of food products. Previous research has mainly explored abstract numerical labels that explicitly quantify nutritional content (e.g., “vitamin content: 268 mg”). However, given that consumers tend to process images more efficiently than numbers, this study investigates whether visualized nutritional content–equivalent labels (e.g., “vitamin content ≈

[orange icons]”) convey nutrient content more effectively than numerical labels, thereby enhancing consumers’ healthfulness perceptions. The results indicate that visualized nutritional content–equivalent labels lead to higher perceived healthfulness compared to numerical labels, primarily due to the activation of mental imagery. However, this effect is attenuated when informational (vs. transformational) advertising appeals are used on the packaging. The findings emphasis the effectiveness of visualized nutritional content–equivalent labels in communicating healthy nutrition information to consumers.