Designing Impactful Warnings for Sugary Drinks

NCT ID: NCT04382599

Last Updated: 2021-01-25

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

1078 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2019-10-07

Study Completion Date

2019-11-04

Brief Summary

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The goal of this online RCT study is to examine how sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) health warnings influence US adults' perceptions and reactions. The investigators have the following predictions:

1. SSB warnings will be perceived as more effective than the control (message topic)
2. Icon and graphic warnings will be perceived as more effective than text-only warnings (message type)

The investigators will also examine the interaction of warning topic and warning type, but have no specific hypothesis about this interaction.

Finally, the investigators will test the following predictions about the secondary outcomes:

SSB warnings (vs. control), as well as icon and graphic warnings (vs text.warnings), will lead to lower perceived product healthfulness, lower purchase intentions, and higher cognitive elaboration.

Detailed Description

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Childhood obesity is a major public health problem in the US among racial and ethnic minorities, including among the US's growing Latino population. One promising but understudied policy for addressing childhood obesity is requiring warnings on the front of sugar-sweetened beverage containers. However, the topic and design of warnings that are most effective in communicating the harms of sugar-sweetened beverages remains unknown. This study assess which warning topics and which warning designs lead to the greatest perceived message effectiveness among US Latino and non-Latino parents of children ages 2-12. The investigators focus on parents as they are the primary decision-makers and purchasers of food products for children and exert strong influence over their children's dietary intake and food attitudes.

Setting: The trial will take place online on a survey developed using Qualtrics.

Recruitment: Participants will be recruited online by CloudResearch PrimePanels, a survey research platform with access to over 20 million participants. As such, participants will have to be PrimePanels members in order to participate.

Informed Consent: After determining eligibility, eligible participants will be directed to a page on Qualtrics with the consent form. Participants acknowledge their consent in the study by clicking the "next page" arrow and proceeding to the study.

Randomization: After consenting, the participant is randomly assigned to to view one of the 5 warning topics. "WARNING: High in added sugar" (added sugar), "WARNING: Excess consumption of drinks with added sugar contributes to weight gain" (weight gain), "WARNING: Excess consumption of drinks with added sugar contributes to type 2 diabetes" (Type 2 diabetes), "WARNING: Excess consumption of drinks with added sugar contributes to heart damage" (heart damage), and "Please refrain from littering" (control). Within each of the four experimental arms, participants see the message displayed on four different types of warning designs: a text warning on a square background, a text warning on a octagon background, and icon warning, and a graphic warning. Within the control arm, participants see the message displayed on three different types of warning designs: a text warning on a square background, an icon warning, and a graphic warning. Participants randomly see the different warning designs in a random order.

Survey: The participants complete a survey answering behavioral perceptions and intentions questions about the different warning labels.

Conditions

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Health Behavior

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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Added sugar warning message

Message displayed on warning labels is: "WARNING: High in added sugar."

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Text warning with square background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black square background

Text warning with octagon background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black octagon background

Icon warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below an icon that conveys the topic the warning is about

Graphic warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below a graphic that conveys the topic the warning is about

Weight gain warning message

Message displayed on warning labels is: "WARNING: Excess consumption of drinks with added sugar contributes to weight gain."

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Text warning with square background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black square background

Text warning with octagon background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black octagon background

Icon warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below an icon that conveys the topic the warning is about

Graphic warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below a graphic that conveys the topic the warning is about

Type 2 diabetes warning message

Message displayed on warning labels is: "WARNING: Excess consumption of drinks with added sugar contributes to type 2 diabetes."

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Text warning with square background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black square background

Text warning with octagon background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black octagon background

Icon warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below an icon that conveys the topic the warning is about

Graphic warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below a graphic that conveys the topic the warning is about

Heart damage warning message

Message displayed on warning labels is: "WARNING: Excess consumption of drinks with added sugar contributes to heart damage."

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Text warning with square background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black square background

Text warning with octagon background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black octagon background

Icon warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below an icon that conveys the topic the warning is about

Graphic warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below a graphic that conveys the topic the warning is about

Neutral message

Message displayed on control label is: "Please refrain from littering."

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Text warning with square background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message is in white text on a black square background

Icon warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below an icon that conveys the topic the warning is about

Graphic warning

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below a graphic that conveys the topic the warning is about

Interventions

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Text warning with square background

The warning message is in white text on a black square background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Text warning with octagon background

The warning message is in white text on a black octagon background

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Icon warning

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below an icon that conveys the topic the warning is about

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Graphic warning

The warning message in in white text on a black background, below a graphic that conveys the topic the warning is about

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* at least 18 years old
* Prime Panels member
* have at least one child ages 2-12
* Currently reside in the US

Exclusion Criteria

* less than 18 years old
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

99 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Marissa G Hall, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of North Carolina

Locations

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University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Hall MG, Lazard AJ, Grummon AH, Higgins ICA, Bercholz M, Richter APC, Taillie LS. Designing warnings for sugary drinks: A randomized experiment with Latino parents and non-Latino parents. Prev Med. 2021 Jul;148:106562. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106562. Epub 2021 Apr 18.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 33878350 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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19-0277a

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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