Vending Labeling Sales and Intercepts Study

NCT ID: NCT06260176

Last Updated: 2024-02-15

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1065 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-02-01
• Study Completion Date: 2020-03-12

Brief Summary

The aim of this study is to compare the impact of 4 different types of front of package (FOP) food and beverage messages: 1) green labels on healthy foods, 2) red/yellow/green labels on less healthy/moderately healthy/healthy foods, 3) physical activity calorie equivalent labels, and 4) posters reminding consumers of the sweetened beverage tax on consumers' beverage and snack selections.

Detailed Description

This project involves a randomized field experiment. The investigators worked with the vending contractor for the City of Philadelphia to randomize vending machine locations (covering ~260 beverage and snack machines) to one of the four different message conditions: 1) single green traffic light labels (on healthy foods); 2) multiple traffic light labels (red traffic light labels applied to less healthy foods, yellow applied to moderately healthy foods, and green on healthy foods); 3) physical activity labels (calorie content displayed in terms of physical activity equivalents); 4) posters reminding consumers of the Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax and encouraging healthier choices. The City's vending machine contractors provided monthly aggregated sales data from each machine for analysis. Customer intercepts were also collected at the point of sale, after customers completed their purchase, to evaluate factors that moderate message influence. They were asked to answer questions about their perceptions of the different labels.

Conditions

Food Preferences; Obesity; Weight Gain

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Green labels

green label added to healthy product slots; no additional labels shown for "less healthy" products and 1 poster per machine explaining the labels

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

exposure to healthy labels only

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Green labels only for beverages and foods scored as healthy

Traffic light labels

red/yellow/green labels added to slots for less healthy/moderately healthy/healthy products, respectively and 1 poster per machine explaining the labels

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

exposure to healthiness information

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

All beverages and foods labeled as either healthy (green), moderately healthy (yellow), or less healthy (red)

Physical activity calorie equivalent labels

labels added to slots that display products' calorie content in terms of physical activity required to burn those calories and 1 poster per machine explaining the labels

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

exposure to physical activity equivalents

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

All beverages and foods labeled with physical activity required to burn their calories

Sweetened beverage tax posters

1 poster per machine; no labels; posters reminded consumers of the Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax and encouraging healthier choices

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

exposure to sweetened beverage tax messaging

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Message reminding consumers to make healthier choices

Interventions

exposure to healthy labels only

Green labels only for beverages and foods scored as healthy

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

exposure to healthiness information

All beverages and foods labeled as either healthy (green), moderately healthy (yellow), or less healthy (red)

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

exposure to physical activity equivalents

All beverages and foods labeled with physical activity required to burn their calories

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

exposure to sweetened beverage tax messaging

Message reminding consumers to make healthier choices

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Any person aged 18 or older making a purchase from the vending machines included in this intervention will be asked to participate in this study.

Exclusion Criteria

• People who indicate they have already taken the survey are not eligible to take the survey again.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Pennsylvania

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Christina A Roberto

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pennsylvania

Locations

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Countries

United States

References

Gibson LA, Stephens-Shields AJ, Hua SV, Orr JA, Lawman HG, Bleich SN, Volpp KG, Bleakley A, Thorndike AN, Roberto CA. Comparison of Sales From Vending Machines With 4 Different Food and Beverage Messages: A Randomized Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 May 1;7(5):e249438. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.9438.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 38717775 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

R01DK113307

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

15163

Identifier Type: REGISTRY

Identifier Source: secondary_id

828722

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id