The influence of audio-visual instruction on consumers’ selection of nutritious food products

Michael S. Wogalter Department of Psychology North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27695 The present research investigates procedures for educating people on tbe use of nutritional labeling. The methods incorporate instructional audio-video media in conjunction with active decision making and immediate feedback. Three groups of participants (audio-video only, audio-video plus active decision making/feedback, and no-instruction control) were asked to chose tile more nutritious products from pairs of similar products based on the information on the labels. The results showed that audio-video media improved the accuracy of the product-pair selections and nutrition knowledge. No additional benefit of active decision making and feedback was found. A follow-up product choice test given approximately one week later showed tJmtperformance for the two audio-video conditions was maintained, but there were no differences between conditions primarily because of a nonsignificant increase by the control group. However, the follow-up testing showed tJmt the two audio-video groups had greater nutrition knowledge than the control group. Additional analyses showed tJmtdemographic variables such as gender, occupation, income level, health status, and special diet were related to product-choice and nutrition test perfonnance. This research advances empirical work in this area, first, by showing an effective and efficient way to educate the public on nutrition and food label information, and second, by employing a performance measure (consumer choice) tJmtmight be useful in future research examining differences between food label formats and education strategies.