(Non-) Commercial Nutrition Claims in Confectionery: a little too much information?

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Confectionery:

a little too much information?

Master Thesis

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(Non-) Commercial Nutrition Claims in

Confectionery:

a little too much information?

Master Thesis Business Administration: Marketing Management

University of Groningen, Faculty Economics and Business

Myriam den Blanken

De Cnollenbijter 23

1911 KA Uitgeest

Phone number: +31615548147

Student number: 1440349

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Management Summary

Health concerns are gaining momentum and consumers are acting more holistically in the pursuit of well-being. The communication of the importance of well-being in the food sector is getting more attention from food marketers with the use of claims on the packaging of products. Nutrition claims can be found on almost every kind of food product, but one of the leading food categories is confectionery. This category can be seen as remarkable to be leading in the use of nutrition claims, since confectionery products are generally accepted to be unhealthy because of their great taste.

Are consumers then interested in nutrition claims that underline the ingredients of confectionery products, or do they prefer product information claims that communicate just the great taste or the convenience? This research aims to give an insight in how claims in confectionery could be used effectively to influence consumer’s perception towards the product in a positive manner.

Previous studies have indicated that comparing both the alternatives of communicating nutrition claims or product information claims (e.g., taste) appears to lead to a healthy-unhealthy paradigm. According to Wansink and Chandon (2006) consumption volume increases when the healthiness of a product is communicated to the consumer through the use of a nutrition claim. Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer (2006) at the opposite side, state that the ‘unhealthy = tasty intuition’ should be considered. This intuition has shown that consumers consume more of an unhealthy food product, because they believe that this food product tastes better than the healthier alternative.

Different claims that are currently used in confectionery to influence the consumer’s perception, are:

 Specific (relative) nutrition claims; no cholesterol and reduced calorie, low carbs.

 General nutrition claims; wholesome, nutritious.

 Production or process-related claims; organic, natural, vitamin fortified.

 Product information claims; taste, novel/new, convenience.

Differences between these claims and their scores on influence, relevance and credibility lead to consumers forming a different perception of a confectionery product.

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questionnaire questions were asked about the demographics of the respondents and the influence, relevance and credibility of claims for forming a perception about a confectionery product.

The most important results are:

 Even in confectionery the health trend seems to be present. Though consumers think about taste as the most important characteristic when forming a perception of a confectionery product, the product should be somewhat healthy as well.

 Product information claims have a positive influence on consumer’s perception, but both nutrition claims and production or process-related claims have an even higher positive influence. Production of process-related claims have the most positive influence on consumers perception of confectionery products.

 Product information claims are shown to be most relevant for respondents when forming a perception of confectionery products, especially claims about taste are shown to be relevant. Not nutrition claims are least relevant for consumers when forming a perception about a confectionery product though, but production or process-related claims are.

 Overall consumers are least sceptical of production or process-related claims and there is no significant difference between the credibility of nutrition claims or product information claims for consumers.

 Nutrition claims are least effective to communicate to the consumer in confectionery. Based on the results of this research, claims in confectionery could be most effectively used when focusing on product information claims and the production or process-related claims.

This research gives several new insights. It is the first research to the influence of claims on consumers perception in the confectionery category. Furthermore, not many studies have investigated the effectiveness of different kind of claims in one study. And finally, there is not a lot of research available about the different determinants of claims in food products. For these reasons, this research contributes to existing literature in this topic.

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Preface

Writing this thesis to achieve a Master in Business Administration, with a specialization marketing management, was a real challenge for me. Leaving the beautiful city Groningen and try to adjust to the working life in Amsterdam. After several reallocations and discovering different internships and jobs, I finally found the inspiration to complete this thesis. I've experienced this period as a wonderful, educational time, in which I have seen the various facets of marketing coming to life. I am particularly pleased with the result, for which I am grateful to the following people.

First, I would like to thank my supervisor Gert Haanstra for his support, constructive criticism and useful suggestions. Especially my thanks goes out to his infinite patience during the long period that I have needed to finish my thesis.

A very special thanks to my parents, because they have made it possible for me to experience an unforgettable time as a student in Groningen and supported me in all my decisions.

And last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family, boyfriend and friends for their necessary encouragement and the more than welcome distraction.

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Table of Figures

FIGURE 1.1-THE ENERGYLOGO ... 12

FIGURE 1.2-'IK KIES BEWUST' LOGO ... 13

FIGURE 1.3-GUIDED DAILY AMOUNT... 13

FIGURE 1.4-FOOD LABELLING IN EUROPE ... 14

FIGURE 1.5-CLAIMS WITHIN PRODUCT CATEGORIES (BRON:VOEDSEL EN WARENAUTORITEIT,2007) ... 16

FIGURE 1.6-MARKETING CAMPAIGN MASTERFOODS:'CHOCOLATE IN BALANCE' ... 17

FIGURE 1.7-MARKETING CAMPAIGN NESTLÉ:GOOD FOOD, GOOD LIFE ... 18

FIGURE 1.8-SETUP OF THESIS ... 21

FIGURE 2.1-INFLUENCE OF NUTRITION CLAIMS ... 25

FIGURE 2.2-THE UNHEALTHY =TASTY INTUITION ... 27

FIGURE 2.3-THE HEALTHY-UNHEALTHY PARADIGM ... 28

FIGURE 2.4-CONCEPTUAL MODEL ... 35

FIGURE 3.1–EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN ... 43

Table of Tables

TABLE 2.1-HYPOTHESES OVERVIEW ... 36

TABLE 3.1-SET OF ITEMS ... 42

TABLE 3.2-SURVEY QUESTIONS ... 44

TABLE 3.3-HYPOTHESES TESTS ... 45

TABLE 4.1-SAMPLE REPRESENTATIVES AGE ... 48

TABLE 4.2-SAMPLE REPRESENTATIVES GENDER ... 48

TABLE 4.3-SAMPLE REPRESENTATIVES HOUSEHOLD TYPE ... 49

TABLE 4.4-SAMPLE REPRESENTATIVES CHILDREN... 49

TABLE 4.5-SAMPLE REPRESENTATIVES EDUCATION ... 50

TABLE 4.6-SAMPLE REPRESENTATIVES PROFESSION ... 50

TABLE 4.7-SAMPLE REPRESENTATIVES GROSS INCOME ... 50

TABLE 4.8-RELIABILITY STATISTICS ... 51

TABLE 4.9-REASON CONSUMERS PURCHASE CONFECTIONERY ... 52

TABLE 4.10-UNHEALTHINESS FOR CONFECTIONERY PRODUCTS ... 52

TABLE 4.11-UNHEALTHY =TASTY INTUITION ... 53

TABLE 4.12-DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS INFLUENCE OF CLAIMS ... 53

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TABLE 4.14-INFLUENCE OF UNFAVOURABLE NUTRITION CLAIMS... 54

TABLE 4.15-INFLUENCE OF UNFAVOURABLE NUTRITION CLAIMS... 55

TABLE 4.16-INFLUENCE OF PRODUCTION OR PROCESS-RELATED CLAIMS ... 55

TABLE 4.17-INFLUENCE OF NUTRITION CLAIMS AND PRODUCTION OR PROCESS-RELATED CLAIMS ... 55

TABLE 4.18-DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS RELEVANCE OF CLAIMS... 56

TABLE 4.19-RELEVANCE OF CLAIMS ... 57

TABLE 4.20-DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS CREDIBILITY OF CLAIMS ... 58

TABLE 4.21-CREDIBILITY OF CLAIMS ... 58

TABLE 4.22-SUMMARY OF THE DIFFERENT CLAIMS ... 59

TABLE 4.23-MOST EFFECTIVE CLAIMS IN CONFECTIONERY ... 60

TABLE 4.24-EFFECTIVENESS OF THE VARIABLES ... 60

TABLE 4.25-CORRELATION OF THE HEALTHY-UNHEALTHY PARADIGM ... 61

TABLE 4.26-REGRESSION OF THE HEALTHY-UNHEALTHY PARADIGM ... 62

TABLE 4.27-REGRESSION OF PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR ... 63

TABLE 4.28-REGRESSION FOR RELEVANT INFORMATION ... 63

TABLE 4.29-CORRELATION OF CREDIBLITY OF CLAIMS ... 64

TABLE 4.30-REGRESSION FOR CREDIBILITY OF CLAIMS ... 64

TABLE 4.31-DIFFERENCES FOR AGE ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAIMS ... 65

TABLE 4.32-DIFFERENCES FOR GENDER ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAIMS ... 66

TABLE 4.33-DIFFERENCES FOR HOUSEHOLD TYPE ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAIMS ... 67

TABLE 4.34-DIFFERENCES FOR CHILDREN ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAIMS ... 67

TABLE 4.35-DIFFERENCES FOR EDUCATION ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAIMS ... 68

TABLE 4.36-DIFFERENCES FOR PROFESSION ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAIMS ... 69

TABLE 4.37-DIFFERENCES FOR GROSS INCOME ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CLAIMS ... 69

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1. Introduction

Health concerns are gaining momentum and are increasing in scope across the globe. Consumers are acting more holistically in the pursuit of general well-being. Well-being in this sense reflects an ethicality, emotional and health well-being all in once (Datamonitor, 2009). More recently, as food production has become more and more complex, consumers are increasingly interested in their diet, its relationship to health, and, more generally, the composition of foods that they are selecting (Brennan, R., et al, 2008). The communication of the importance of well-being in the food sector is getting more attention from both consumer and food marketer. Consumers are embracing tools that enable more informed health-driven choices (Datamonitor, 2009), with advertising being the medium with great influence on consumers interpretation of product attributes.

The Health mega-trend is one of the most influential drivers of global consumer behaviour (Datamonitor, 2009). Consumers are taking a more proactive stand towards learning and understanding multiple facets of health, which includes paying more attention to the nutritional profile of foods. In particular, food labelling has become a major issue, with more consumers declaring that they pay attention to the information written on packaging, and increasingly are able to make reasoned consumption choices based on these details (Datamonitor, 2009). Labelling will therefore continue to be an important marketing instrument to generate demand for food products. Manufacturers must ensure the clear labelling of all products is in place to ensure that information about ‘ingredient issues’ such as salt, sugar and fat is effectively communicated (Datamonitor, 2009). With the presents of clear labelling consumers are able to carefully select products that specifically fit in their diet, therefore increasing confidence in the brand.

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1.1 Legislation in the Netherlands

The government of the Netherlands is trying to help consumers facilitate improved behaviour with legislation for food products. Two laws are in particular relevant for labelling packaged food products, which are the ‘Warenwetbesluit Etikettering’ and the ‘Warenwetbesluit Voedingswaarde-informatie Levensmiddelen’.

For consumers, the first place to look for information on what a food product contains is the ingredient list on the label (www.voedingsinfo.org). The government has introduced the ‘Warenwet’ to provide legislation for these ingredient list, so that Dutch consumers will not be mislead by these lists. According to article 5.1 of the ‘Warenwetbesluit Etikettering’ marketers of packaged food and/or drinks must publish (among others) a list of ingredients and the quantity of an ingredient or category of ingredients. In the ‘Warenwetbesluit Voedingswaarde-informatie Levensmiddelen’ is stated in article 3.4 that there are differences in the claim used and the ingredient list that has to be on the label of the food product.

According to article 3.4.b of the ‘Warenwetbesluit Voedingswaarde-informatie Levensmiddelen’ if a claim is used it is mandatory to present the nutritional value of the product on the label. If the claim is about sugars, saturated fat, fiber or sodium or if it is a specific health claim the label should in any case mention the so-called "big eight" plus the nutrient on which the claim is made if it is not included in the "big eight". The "big eight" consists of: energy, protein, carbohydrates, including sugars, fat, Saturated fatty acids, fiber and sodium. For other claims it is sufficient to claim the so-called “big four”, plus the nutrient or nutrient on which the claim is made as it is not included in the “big four”. The "big four" consists of energy, protein, carbohydrates and fats. The mandatory nutrition declaration shall not apply to non-prepackaged foods (including fresh produce such as fruit, vegetables or bread). The ingredient lists of either the “big eight” or the “big four” give the components of the food product in descending order of importance by weight. So if vegetable, fat or cheese, for example, appear high on the list, they are likely to be major ingredients, indicating a potentially high-fat food (www.voedingsinfo.org).

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1.2 Health initiatives in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands the phenomena of labelling is rising. Labels are more often displayed on the packaging of food products. The presents of labelling can range from logos to nutritional profile tables. According to Voedingscentrum this labelling is developed to help the consumer make a more healthy choice between different food products. In the Netherlands one of the most presented labelling initiatives is the ‘Ik Kies Bewust’-logo. According to Voedingscentrum products with such a logo on the packaging are said to be the healthier choice within their category of products, because they are said to contain less saturated fat, salt, added sugars and/or more fiber. The products in the Netherlands that are provided with such a logo are mostly displayed on packaged foods and drinks (Voedingscentrum). Even a snack product can comply to the rules for a health quality mark, for example chips with less saturated fat.

Voedingscentrum is an organization in the Netherlands that pleads for years to make healthy food products more visible for the consumer. This would make it easier to choose the healthier alternative and it stimulates the food market to improve current existing products and develop new, healthier products (Voedingscentrum). Information on the label of a food product and health quality marks can help consumers to choose the healthier alternative. The Voedingscentrum offers accessories to choose for a healthy product without studying the ingredients as displayed on the label, some of the most important accessories are displayed below.

The Energylogo

The Energylogo from the Federatie Nederlandse Levensmiddelen Industrie (FNLI) shows in one glance how much calories a product contains. Regularly, the amount of calories on products is displayed per 100 gram, but with the energylogo from the FNLI the amount is displayed per portion whenever possible. With the energylogo consumers is offered the possibility to make a responsible choice between different products. Consumers can compare the amount of calories of food products with the use of this logo. In this way, the logo can help to fight obesity. Manufacturers, supermarkets and horeca are allowed to decide for themselves if they want to use the energylogo. The control of the logo is executed by the Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit. A remark with this logo is that consumers could focus too much on the

calories. When focusing on calories they disregard other

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‘Ik kies bewust’

The ‘Ik Kies Bewust’-logo is meant to help consumers make a conscious decision for healthy food. The emphasis for products with the logo is on lower amounts of sugar, salt and saturated fat. The logo is available to all brands and organizations. A lot of manufacturers in food products are currently using the ‘Ik Kies Bewust’ logo. Even catering and supermarkets want to introduce the logo. The ultimate goal of the ‘Ik Kies Bewust’-logo is that the whole foodmarket and all

supermarkets will support this initiative. Within each group the healthier products are up for obtaining the logo, varying from fruits and vegetables to snacks, soups and dinners.

To display the logo, a product has to comply to clear, scientific requirements. Food products are currently tested at their amount of saturated fat, salt and sugar. The requirements are based on international diet advice. Each two years the requirements are researched again and adjusted if necessary.

Guided Daily Amount (GDA)

The GDA actually is not a health quality mark, but a voluntarily supplement of the manufacturers to the obliged information on the label. It is another initiative from the FNLI. The GDA provides information about the nutrients for which the advice ‘not too much’ is especially important: sugar, salt and saturated fat. The total amount of fat and calories is displayed in the table as well. This information is placed on the front side or the backside of the package by manufacturers. The manufacturer can even place a symbol at the front of the package on which just the calories are displayed and the percentage of the guided daily amount for women (2000 calories).

As stated before, each nutrient is accompanied by a percentage. This percentage presents the guided daily amount for this nutrient. Because this information is about nutrient that you should not consume in too large amounts, the guided daily amount presents a maximum amount a day. The table therefore does not contain a recommended daily amount, such as vitamins. The goal is to stay as far from the one hundred percent as possible, instead of trying to reach that, this can have a confusing effect on consumers.

Figure 1.2 - 'Ik Kies Bewust' logo

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Food labelling indeed can be very confusing for consumers. In April to May 2009, Datamonitor surveyed consumers across 17 countries and asked about their level of agreement with the following statement: “I feel that food and health information is confusing and conflicting”. Europeans overall were shown to exhibit higher than average concern about confusion stemming from, and conflicting food/health information (Datamonitor, 2009), in the Netherlands 34 percent of the respondents strongly agreed to this statement. Because of this confusing effects, it can be rather difficult for manufacturers of food products to reach the consumer with food labelling initiatives.

1.3 Reaching the Consumer

Most consumers now have at least a basic understanding of what ingredients are good for them and which are harmful if consumed to excess (Datamonitor, 2009). This being the case, label reading on foods and beverages has become more common, with consumers keen to check that products are in-fitting with their nutritional values.

The increasing level of legislation regarding food labelling, as well as a more knowledgeable consumer base, means that consumers have more access to nutritional information on product packaging than ever before (Datamonitor, 2009). What’s more, they feel more comfortable understanding and interpreting this information. Despite this, many consumers still overlook labels (Datamonitor, 2009).

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choices ‘all’ or ‘most’ of the time. Most Dutch consumers also said they had not used food nutritional information more frequently in the past six months (Datamonitor, 2009).

Many consumers around the globe adopt short-cuts by only relying on what they deem to be the most salient information cues that enable them to make the most informed consumption decision possible, but with minimum effort (Datamonitor, 2009). According to Datamonitor (2009) more than half of the Dutch respondents said they did focus on only a few things.

Both the research results of the percentage of consumers that actually use food label information and the research results about short-cuts for reading food label information show that consumers experience an overload of nutrition information. Manufacturers try to reduce this overload to make use of simplified expressions on the packaging of food products. An effective marketing instrument is the use of claims on products, that trigger consumers to buy a product, instead of the more text intensive labels (Datamonitor, 2009). The appearance of nutrition/health claims onto the packaging of food products is indeed one of the most visible changes in the food production industry. With the use of these claims the consumer is able to easily obtain additional information about a food product, besides the information that legally has to be printed on the label (Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, 2007).

1.4 Definition Nutrition Claims

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Though nutrition/health claims are often named as one in marketing literature, there is a clear difference between the two. A nutrition claim is a claim that states that a food product contains certain characteristics that are perceived to be good and that are accounted for through the energetic value or the nutrients that the product does (or does not) contain (Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, 2007). A health claim implies a certain relationship between the food product and the state of health for the consumer of the product (Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, 2007). In the Netherlands there is a law for both nutrient and health claims since 1st of July 2007. Most of the claims used in the Netherlands currently are nutrition claims and almost no health claims are printed on labels because of the strict regulations for this kind of claims (Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, 2007).

Figure 1.5 - Claims within product categories (Bron: Voedsel en WarenAutoriteit, 2007)

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indulgent, hedonic food category. These food products are generally known and accepted to be unhealthy and consumers often accept a feeling of guilt when consuming these products, because of the great taste of these products. Still a lot of marketers in confectionery currently use nutrition claims as a marketing instrument for their product.

1.5 Claims in Confectionery

Marketers in confectionery are using nutrition claims for marketing their products. Because confectionery products are highly hedonic, the use of these claims seems to be not the most obvious choice. To get to know the reason why marketers in confectionery currently make use of nutrition claims, information about the marketing campaign of the two largest organizations in confectionery is discussed.

Masterfoods

Masterfoods is the leading organization in chocolate confectionery, their products they are known for are: Mars, Snicker, Twix, Milky Way, M&M’s. Since the last months of 2008 they started an extensive marketing campaign in which they communicate to the consumer about all the benefits of the ingredients they use in their products. The theme of the marketing campaign of Masterfoods is ‘Chocolate in Balance’.

Figure 1.6 - Marketing campaign Masterfoods: 'Chocolate in Balance'

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The reason for communicating nutrition claims onto the labels of their products is explained by Masterfoods in that they recognize that people are actively and consciously working on their nutrition and health, in part because obesity is a serious problem (www.chocoladeinbalans.nl). On the other hand they do think that people just want to continue to enjoy their chocolate products. With their campaign Masterfoods tries to convince consumers that delicious chocolate snacks fit into a healthy and balanced lifestyle. With their nutrition and health program has the try to achieve that everyone will continue to enjoy chocolate in a changing environment.

Nestlé

The second largest organization in chocolate confectionery in the Netherlands is Nestlé. After the introduction of the new claims of Masterfoods, Nestlé felt the need to comply with this marketing strategy. Nestlé reacted on the claims from Masterfoods with comparable claims. All the candy bars from Nestlé are provided with a claim stating the amount of calories per candy bar.

Besides the energetic claims that Nestlé has printed on the packaging, the organization also communicates her own developed label on the backside of each product: ‘Good food, good life’. Nutrition, Health and Wellness is Nestlé’s strategic direction. Nestlé wants its consumers to be able to make healthy choices about their food and beverages. Nestlé also believes that good food sometimes means treating yourself (www.nestle.com). According to Nestlé, they aim to make the life of their consumers more pleasurable because their products not only taste better, but they are also more nutritious.

Both Masterfoods and Nestlé thus recognize that health concerns are gaining momentum and are increasing in scope across the globe and both organizations try to capitalize on this trend that consumers are acting more holistically in the pursuit of general well-being.

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value of their products. But most important, confectionery products bring emotional wellbeing, because of the enjoyment that a confectionery product can bring.

1.6 Problem Statement

As previously discussed, confectionery is currently one of the leading categories in the use of nutrition claims. Dutch food marketers are communicating the nutrient content of their confectionery products to the consumer with the use of various different nutrition claims.

1.6.1 Research objective

With nutrition claims being that popular as a marketing instrument for manufacturers of confectionery, the question rises if these claims are effective for confectionery products. Are consumers interested in nutrition claims that underline the ingredients of confectionery products, or do they prefer product information claims that communicate just the great taste or the convenience of a confectionery product? In short, are nutrition claims indeed an effective marketing tool for hedonic products like confectionery and is there a difference between the kind of nutrition claims used?

In most marketing decisions, the problem can ultimately be traced to predicting the response of buyers to specific actions by the marketer (Malhotra, 2004). For this subject, ultimately, the goal would be to predict how different claims would influence consumers purchase behaviour in confectionery. This research is descriptive in nature. The primary objective of descriptive research is to describe something – usually market characteristics or functions (Malhotra, 2004). The objective of this research is to describe consumers perception of nutrition claims in confectionery and how claims could be most effectively used in the future of food marketing for the confectionery category based on these perceptions.

1.6.2 Research question

The research objective stated in the previous section can be formed into the following problem statement:

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In order to provide an answer to this problem statement, the following research questions are formulated:

 (How) is consumer perception of confectionery products influenced by claims?

 Is there a difference between the kind of claims used in confectionery and what are these differences?

 What are determinants for the effectiveness of the different claims used on the packaging of confectionery products?

 Based on the determinants for effectiveness, which kind of claims are most effective in changing consumers perception in a positive manner?

1.7 Theoretical and practical relevance

This research is marketing related and is both socially and scientifically relevant. Next the theoretical and practical relevance of this research are presented.

1.7.1 Theoretical relevance

In recent years there has been a lot of research to nutrition labels and nutrition claims and their influence on consumers. Research has been focused on the influence of these claims on consumption of food products. There are great concerns that nutrition claims influence consumers to increase their consumption of nutrient-poor and calorie-rich snack foods (Wansink & Chandon, 2006). Though, at the other hand, there are advocates of the unhealthy = tasty intuition (Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer, 2006). Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer (2006) argue that people consume food that is considered unhealthy not despite its perceived unhealthiness but rather because of it. This would imply that nutrition claims on nutrient-poor and calorie-rich snack foods would not have a positive influence on food consumption, but instead a negative influence. Different nutrition claims could apply to different preferences of consumers.

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predict actual purchase behaviour. Aim of this research is to give a fundamental direction of consumers reactions on different claims in confectionery.

1.7.2 Practical relevance

For managers in general, it would be interesting to know which nutrition claims would be most effective in influencing consumer perception. The strategy of displaying different kind of nutrition claims on the packaging of products is widely used in the Netherlands, though extra information about consumers’ interests in these kind of claims is important. With confectionery products there is a risk that consumers will not believe the claim. When information is provided about the ‘stretch’ managers have in developing reliable nutrition claims, the limited budget of marketing managers can be used much more effectively.

1.8 Setup of this thesis

This setup of this thesis can be divided into two different parts. The first part of this thesis consists of a theoretical framework, where different views on claims on food products will be reviewed, resulting in a conceptual model as the starting point for further research. The second part of the thesis is the empirical part, which consists of qualitative data, conducted from a questionnaire.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Chapter 2 – Theory Chapter 3 - Methodology Chapter 4 – Research Findings

Chapter 5 – Conclusion and recommendations Chapter 6 – Limitations and directions for future research

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2. Literature Framework

As mentioned above confectionery products are indulgent, hedonic products. These products are recognized for that their primary motivation is consumption to gain immediate sensory pleasure such as a great taste and feelings, instead of functional products that offer solutions to a current consumption-related problem such as serving a healthy and convenient meal (Batra and Ahtola, 1990). According to Kim et al (2009) the goal of consumption differs between hedonic and functional products. It is therefore expected that different types of advertising claims will be more or less likely to be employed in food advertising, depending on the type of food products (Kim et al, 2009). Confectionery products are most often consumed for the pleasure and enjoyment of the taste. Hence, for confectionery products product information claims (e.g., taste) should make a better fit than nutrition claims. In marketing literature there are different opinions about this topic, resulting in a healthy-unhealthy paradigm.

Different claims are expected to have different influences on consumers and their position on this healthy-unhealthy paradigm. Three aspects of claims on confectionery products are taken into account when considering the most effective claims. First, a claim has to influence the consumer in a positive manner. Secondly, a claim has to be relevant to the consumer, otherwise a consumer will not pay any attention to the claim made and finally the claim has to be credible. Claims that foresee in all three of these aspects are thought to be effective in influencing consumers’ attitude towards the brand and purchase intention in a positive manner.

2.1 Healthy versus Unhealthy

For the consumer it seems that there are two different ways in forming their perception about a confectionery product, (1) the healthiest alternative within the category, or (2) the product with the best taste. Since marketers of confectionery products currently try to target both of these directions, the question is, what is the effect of communicating nutrition claims and/or emphasizing the taste of the product with the use of product-information claims.

2.1.1 Communicating Nutrition Claims

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subjective consumption cues (Wansink and Chandon, 2006). Objective consumption cues explicitly suggest an amount to eat on a single occasion (serving-size information). Subjective consumption cues do not specify a serving size, for example relative nutrition claims (e.g., low fat).

The main goal of communicating nutrition information for any food marketer is to sell more of its products. The message of this kind of information would be; ‘you can enjoy this product, without disturbing your healthy diet’. Some consumer organizations in the European Union consider that products that do not have a “desirable” nutritional profile, such as candies, high salt and high fat snacks or high fat and sugar biscuits and cakes should not be allowed to bear claims (Brennan, R., et al., 2008). This suggest that nutrition claims do influence consumers with the result of a positive attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. According to Wansink and Chandon (2006) nutrition information, in the form of relative nutrition claims (e.g. low fat) and serving-size, influences single-occasion intake.

When a product has nutrition information on the package, consumers automatically assume that this information is useful for them when making their decision. The consumer uses the information available to develop an opinion about the product, but still some questions remain unanswered. Therefore, consumers use the information provided and their intuitive beliefs to make inferences about missing attributes that are important for their decision (Wansink and Chandon, 2006). With nutrition, however, deceptive inferences can occur from the omission of information that is needed to prevent a favourable representation from being misleading (Andrews, Netemeyer and Burton, 1998). Some inappropriate generalizations often made by consumers are:

Foods low in cholesterol are also low in fat Low-fat nutrition claims indicate fewer calories

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Figure 2.1 - Influence of Nutrition Claims

Relative nutrition claims influence the consumption volume of the product through serving-size inferences, but also through the feelings of pleasure and guilt that a consumer endures. Research has shown that emotions and, particularly, anticipation of consumption pleasures and guilt can play a central role in determining how much a person eats (Wansink and Chandon, 2006).

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influence is stronger for guilt-free utilitarian foods than for guilt-prone hedonic foods (Wansink and Chandon, 2006)1.

The influence of relative nutrition content claims on consumption volume is therefore two-ways, through serving-size inferences and feelings of consumption pleasure and guilt. Labelling snacks with a relative nutrition claims like ‘low fat’ increases food intake during a single consumption occasion by up to 50%, this is robust across both hedonic and utilitarian snacks (Wansink and Chandon, 2006). Ultimately, this consumption increase on a single occasion will lead to more products being sold over a longer period of time, because consumers will have to buy a new product sooner. Though, too much over consumption by consumers can lead to rapid satiation, which will result in consumers no longer will buy the product.

2.1.2 Emphasizing the Taste of the Product

According to research performed by Datamonitor (2009), consumers primarily associate eating and drinking with pleasure. As a result, the desire for indulgence will persist irrespective of consumers’ best healthy eating intentions (Datamonitor, 2009). It is clear that consumers buy confectionery products with the pure purpose of pleasure during consumption, these products are consumed foremost about the taste. Why then are marketers currently communicating nutrition claims on the packaging of these confectionery products? Do these claims persuade the consumer to choose for the more healthy alternative? According to Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer (2006) the contrary is true, consumers choose their food products based on the so-called “Unhealthy = Tasty” intuition.

Figure 2.2 shows the influence of the unhealthy = tasty intuition on the three different stages of the decision making process. In the first stage of the decision making process the unhealthy = tasty intuition influences the taste inferences of the consumer. How healthier the product seems by the nutrition claims communicated, the less tasty the product is thought to be. The second stage presents the actual enjoyment. According to Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer (2006) foods that are perceived as less healthy are enjoyed more during actual consumption (when actual tastiness of a

1_{As can be seen in figure 2.2 feelings of guilt are also influenced by individual characteristics. Research has}

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food product is controlled for). The third and final stage, the actual choice for a specific product is influenced by the taste inferences and moderated by the goal of consumption. In the context of food choice, researchers have suggested that, in general, the hedonic goal of enjoyment is salient and important (Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer, 2006). The result is that when the goal of consumption is more hedonic, the less healthy option will be the product of choice.

Figure 2.2 - The Unhealthy = Tasty Intuition

Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer (2006) find that consumers over consume food that they perceive as unhealthy because they assume that such food tastes better. Foods perceived as less healthy are inferred to taste better and preferred in a choice task when a hedonic goal is more (versus less) salient. This means that when choosing between alternatives in the confectionery category, the hedonic goal would be very important and the consumer would choose for the less healthy alternative. Therefore, communicating claims to the consumer about the healthiness of the product would result in less sales of that product.

2.2 The Healthy-Unhealthy Paradigm

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feelings of guilt for the consumer. Consumption volume here is the food intake per consumption occasion. When the food intake is higher per intake, the consequence will be that consumers buy more of the product or more times in a specific period.

Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer (2006) at the opposite side, state that the ‘unhealthy = tasty intuition’ should be considered, especially when a hedonic product is the topic of interest. This intuition has shown that consumers consume more of an unhealthy food product, because they believe that this food product tastes better than the healthier alternative.

Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer (2006) argue that in the context of food choice, the hedonic goal of enjoyment is salient and important, this is hypothesized in this research. Confectionery is a hedonic food product and therefore it is hypothesized that the preference for consumers when looking for a confectionery product is taste. Consumers do think that nutrition claims aimed at the healthiness of a product have a good influence on the product, but this is not the most trivial aspect when buying a confectionery product.

Hypothesis 1a: For consumers the most important characteristic of confectionery products is taste.

Hypothesis 1b: When consumers are looking for a confectionery product, it does not have to be healthy.

Hypothesis 1c: The unhealthy = tasty intuition is true for consumers looking for confectionery products.

2.3 Claims in Confectionery

Nutrition claims and product information claims as presented above both have followers within food marketing. This is supported by Kim, Cheong and Zheng (2009) who write that taste claims and specific nutrition claims are the two dominating types of advertising claims. Next to the two dominating types of claims, there are many other claims that are currently used for advertising in confectionery to influence the consumer’s perception. These claims can range from information

Health ‘Nutrition Claims’

Taste

‘Product Information Claims’

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about a specific ingredient in the product, to the way the food product is produced, to the message the food marketer wants to communicate.

- Specific (relative) nutrition claims; no cholesterol (Andrews, Netemeyer & Burton, 1998) and reduced calorie, low carbs (Wansink and Chandon, 2006).

- General nutrition claims; wholesome, nutritious (Kim, Cheong and Zheng, 2009).

- Production or process-related claims; organic, natural, vitamin fortified (Wansink and Chandon, 2006)

- Product information claims; taste, novel/new, convenience (Kim, Cheong, and Zheng, 2009).

Specific and general nutrition claims all provide information about the ingredients that a product contains and the effects of those ingredients. Comparing general nutrition and specific nutrition claims revealed that a significant proportion of advertisements used specific nutrition claims rather than general nutrition claims (Kim, Cheong and Zheng, 2009). This means that food marketers in confectionery trust the effects of words like ´no cholesterol´ or ´low carbs´ more than of words like ´nutritious´. A specific or general nutrition claim tries to aim at the health aspect by providing information about the nutritional profile.

Production or process-related claims are less directly about the effects of the ingredients, but they are closely linked to the ingredients. The claim could provide information about where the ingredients are from and/or how they are grown. This information provides information about the healthiness of the product, for example the claim organic states that there are no chemicals used when growing the ingredients, which can influence the overall product. Most of the time these kind of claims are as well aimed at the ethical aspect of well-being.

Product information claims are extremely aimed at the emotional well-being. According to Kim, Cheong and Zheng (2009) taste claims clearly lead this category. Those additional product information claims popular among food advertisers include novel/new and convenience (Kim, Cheong and Zheng, 2009).

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influence these claims have on the perception of consumers. The question is, what are the driving factors behind the influence of these claims?

2.4 Determinants of the Effectiveness of Claims

Despite the prevalence of verbal arguments in marketing communications, the academic literature has surprisingly little to say about why some arguments are more effective than others (Areni, 2002). A claim would be successful if it influences consumer’s attitude towards the brand and purchase intention in a positive manner, but how would a claim have such an effect.

In both its 2008 and 2009 consumer surveys, Datamonitor asked consumers to consider the amount of influence a claim about a specific aspect of a food product would have on the ultimate choice for a product. Logically, a claim could either influence the perception of the product in a positive or in a negative way. For a claim to be effective, it should have a crucial positive influence on the product at hand.

Second, in the surveys Datamonitor asked a number of questions relating to the amount of attention consumers pay to the specific leading issues associated with dietary control and intake of ingredients (Datamonitor, 2009). The amount of attention a claim on a food product would get from consumers is highly relevant for the ultimate influence of such a claim. Simply stated, if a food marketer would publish nutrition claims onto the packaging of its products that do not interests consumers one bit, such a claim would be highly ineffective. As such, the relevance of a claim would be very, if not most, important to consider.

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As a result differences between the claims and their scores on influence, relevance and credibility could lead to consumers forming a very different perception of a confectionery product based on how claims influence the consumers.

2.4.1 Influence of Claims

A very important aspect of a claim is its effect on the overall judgement about the product. An understanding of the effects of the different claims is therefore highly relevant to marketers of food products. A claim on a confectionery product could be interpreted by the consumer and generalized for the total product. As mentioned before, a claim could have two influences, one is being the healthiest alternative in the category, the other is being the most tasteful alternative. For confectionery the main goal of consumption is pleasure and enjoyment, the hedonic goal is salient. Therefore it can be hypothesized that product information claims (e.g., taste and convenience) will have the most positive influence on consumer’s perception of confectionery products.

Hypothesis 2a: Product information claims will have a positive influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product.

A specific nutrition claim provides information to the consumer about a specific aspect or ingredient of the product. General nutrition claims, production-or process related claims and product information claims in most cases provide information about the whole product. This means that certainly in the case of a specific nutrition claim, there is room for consumer’s judgement about the overall product, the consumer can generalize the specific claim. According to Andrews, Netemeyer and Burton (1998) consumers viewing favourable nutrition claims (e.g., ‘no cholesterol’, ‘healthy’) will have more favourable evaluations of non-featured nutrient content (e.g. levels of fat, overall nutrition content) than will consumers exposed to control advertisements (e.g., ‘delicious taste’) for the same product. This means that a nutrition claim (specific and/or general) leads to a generalization of the total product. Thus, when a nutrition claim focused on health is provided, the whole product will be seen as more healthy. For a confectionery product with a hedonic goal of consumption such a generalization of a healthy product overall will have a negative effect on the final judgement of consumers.

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Nutrition claims could also provide information about aspects of ingredients that are known to be delicious and unhealthy (e.g., butter). Therefore, if an ‘unfavourable’ nutrition claim would be stated on the product the generalization could lead to an overall more unhealthy and thus tasty judgement.

Hypothesis 2c: Unfavourable nutrition claims will have a positive influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product.

Production or process-related claims provide information about product characteristics that influence the health (e.g. without artificial colours) or ethical well-being (e.g. fair trade) of the consumer. When these claims are generalized for the total product, the product will be judged as a healthier alternative within the category, which will be interpreted as less tasty. Though, the influence of these claims is less directly related to the nutrition profile of the product than nutrition claims. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that the influence of production or process-related claims will be slightly more positive than nutrition claims.

Hypothesis 2d: Production or process-related claims will have a negative influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product.

Hypothesis 2e: Production or process-related will have a more positive influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product than nutrition claims.

2.4.2 Relevance of Claims

Communicating nutrition claims or emphasizing the taste of the product are both said to influence consumption in a positive manner, but when the goal of the food is hedonic, the ‘unhealthy = tasty intuition’ is even more present than when the goal of consumption is functional (Raghunathan, Walker and Hoyer, 2006).

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when forming a perception about the product. Product information claims would be the key drivers for forming a perception of a specific confectionery product.

Hypothesis 3a: Product information claims in confectionery are most relevant for consumers in developing a perception of the product.

Hypothesis 3b: Production or process-related claims are more relevant than nutrition claims in confectionery for consumers in developing a perception of the product.

2.4.3 Credibility of Claims

When a claim on the packaging of a product would have a positive influence and is relevant, a next important characteristic about the claim is that it has to be credible. When consumers create a high level of scepticism when seeing a specific claim on a confectionery product, the ultimate effect will be far less than when there is a low level of scepticism. Research has shown that consumers generally believe that claims are simply attempts by the manufacturer to sell more of its products and are unaware of government regulations that specify when claims can be made, such beliefs have led to consumer scepticism regarding nutrition claims on packages (Garretson, Judith A. and Scot Burton, 2000).

Obermiller and Spangenberg (1998) defined scepticism toward advertising as “the tendency toward disbelief of advertising claims; a stable, generalisable marketplace belief, one of the overarching propositions that compose a consumer’s implicit theory of how the marketplace operates.” Advertising scepticism is probabilistic, meaning that the more sceptical the consumer, the greater the probability that he or she will disbelieve an advertisement (Brennan, R., et al., 2008).

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Most nutrition claims could be categorized as properties of a product which are credence properties, because it is not easy for the consumer to verify the claims made. It is almost impossible and certainly very expensive for a consumer to test if a certain ingredient indeed is not included in the product or to compare the amount with a previous product. Though, nutrition claims can be verified by reading the food labelling on the backside of a product and look which ingredients the product contains. Still in such a situation the consumer has to rely on its own knowledge about food products to verify if the claim made is right. Production or process-related claims are extremely hard to verify for the consumer, it is almost impossible to test if a product is organic or if it fair-trade. Product information claims are much more easy to verify by the consumer. For example, taste or convenience can be easily verified when consuming the product.

Economics of Information (EOI) theory predicts that consumers will be most sceptical of claims they can never verify and least sceptical of claims they can easily and inexpensively verify prior to purchase (Ford, Smith and Swasy, 1990). This would mean that nutrition claims and production or process-related claims create a high level of scepticism with consumers, because it is very difficult to verify the claims made. Product information claims will lead to a low level of scepticism for the consumer because these claims can be easily verified.

Hypothesis 4a: Consumers are less sceptical of product information claims in confectionery than of nutrition claims and production or process related claims.

Hypothesis 4b: Consumers are less sceptical of nutrition claims in confectionery than of production or process related claims.

2.5 Most Effective Claims in Confectionery

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Hypothesis 5: Product information claims will be most effective for influencing consumer’s perception of a confectionery product in a positive manner.

2.6 Conceptual Model and Hypotheses Overview

The hypotheses as stated above can be displayed in a conceptual model. The conceptual model as presented below graphically displays the hypotheses that are tested in this research and shows how they relate to each other. The effectiveness of the different claims starts with the presents of these same claims. The claims published on the labels of confectionery products are triggering the consumer to think about the meaning of these claims. Is a consumer focused on health or taste of the confectionery product. Ultimately, the consumer chooses a position on the healthy-unhealthy paradigm. In this research it is hypothesized that consumers are leaning towards taste as being most important for confectionery products, thus a position at the right end of the spectrum, as can be seen in the conceptual model.

Determinants of Effectiveness of Claims on the perception of consumers

- Influence of claims (H2) - Relevance of claims (H3) - Credibility of claims (H4)

Claims in Confectionery

- Nutrition claims

- Production or process-related claims - Product information claims

Consumer’s perception of confectionery products

(H5) The Influence of claims on consumer’s perception of confectionery products

Health Taste

The Healthy-Unhealthy Paradigm (H1)

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When the position on the healthy-unhealthy paradigm is chosen, this position influences consumers perception of different claims on influence, relevance and credibility. When consumers find taste the most important for confectionery products, they perceive different claims to be effective than when health would be most important for the consumer. Finally, the claim that scores the highest on all three determinants of an effective claim would be the most effective claim in confectionery. This claim would influence consumers perception in the most positive manner.

An overview of the hypotheses that will be tested in this research is presented below.

Table 2.1- Hypotheses overview Hypotheses Overview

Hypothesis 1a: For consumers the most important characteristic of confectionery products is taste.

Hypothesis 1b: When consumers are looking for a confectionery product, it does not have to be healthy.

Hypothesis 1c: The unhealthy = tasty intuition is true for consumers looking for confectionery products.

Hypothesis 2a: Product information claims will have a positive influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product.

Hypothesis 2b: Favourable nutrition claims will have a negative influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product.

Hypothesis 2c: Unfavourable nutrition claims will have a positive influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product.

Hypothesis 2d: Production or process-related claims will have a negative influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product.

Hypothesis 2e: Production or process-related will have a more positive influence on consumer’s perception of a confectionery product than nutrition claims. Hypothesis 3a: Product information claims in confectionery are most relevant for consumers

in developing a perception of the product.

Hypothesis 3b: Production or process-related claims are more relevant than nutrition claims in confectionery for consumers in developing a perception of the product. Hypothesis 4a: Consumers are less sceptical of product information claims in confectionery

than of nutrition claims and production or process related claims.

Hypothesis 4b: Consumers are less sceptical of nutrition claims in confectionery than of production or process related claims.

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3. Methodology

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measure of effectiveness of different claims for confectionery products. To investigate the conceptual model different kind of research methods are available. Next, the research method and the sample technique of this research will be presented.

3.1 Research Method

In this research a questionnaire is used to test the hypotheses. This survey method involves a structured questionnaire given to respondents and designed to elicit specific information (Malhotra, 2004). The reason that is chosen for a questionnaire in this research is the fact that questionnaires are used in previous research about claims in nutrition by Mohr et al. (1998). Most importantly, the use of fixed alternative questions require the respondents to select from a predetermined set of responses (Malhotra, 2004). Because of these fixed alternative questions, the information obtained about consumer’s perception of different claims is still manageable. These stated alternatives also ensure that the data obtained by the questionnaire is reliable because the responses are limited to these alternatives (Malhotra, 2004). Another advantage of fixed-response questions is that they reduce the variability in the results that may be caused by differences in interviewers (Malhotra, 2004). Finally, coding, analysis, and interpretation of data are relatively simple (Malhotra, 2004).A questionnaire thus offers a perfect option to collect data from a large amount of respondents and afterwards, this data can be rather easily analysed.

With the choice for a questionnaire, there is still a widespread choice between the different kind of questionnaires. In this digital world, the choice has fallen for the use of an online internet questionnaire. Internet or Web surveys use hypertext markup language (HTML), the language of the Web, and are posted on a Web site (Malhotra, 2004). In this research there is chosen to publish the questionnaire on thesis tools (www.thesistools.com). Respondents are asked to go to the particular Web location to complete the survey (Malhotra, 2004).

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3.2 Sample size

To determine the sample size for this research, the guidelines from Malhotra (2004) are followed. According to Malhotra (2004) determining the sample size is complex and involves several considerations such as the importance of the decision, the nature of the research, the number of variables, the nature of analysis, sample sizes used in similar studies, incidence rates, completion rates and resource constraints. All of these aspects of determining the sample size are considered, but a few are now further explained.

The nature of the research for conclusive research, such as descriptive surveys, larger samples are required (Malhotra, 2004). In this research, a survey is conducted to test how respondents form their opinion about a confectionery product based on the claims presented on the packaging. The research thus is descriptive in nature and therefore a larger sample size is required.

If data are being collected on a large number of variables, larger samples are required (Malhotra, 2004). The number of variables in this research is kept small. The smaller the number of variables, the smaller the sample size is that is required for the research.

If sophisticated analysis of the data using multivariate techniques is required, the larger sample size should be large (Malhotra, 2004). In this research, multivariate techniques are used, though not required. The hypotheses stated, will all be tested with t-tests. Multivariate techniques like regression analysis are used in this research, though just for giving an impression of the results and perhaps an indication for further research in this subject. Because of the fact that these multivariate techniques are not crucial for this research, the sample size can be smaller.

Finally according to Malhotra (2004) the sample size decision should be guided by a consideration of the resource constraints. In any marketing research project, money and time are limited (Malhotra, 2004). In this research, resource constraints are present especially in that there is no money available and only a personal network is in reach.

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confectionery and is therefore best characterized as a test-marketing study. According to Malhotra (2004, p. 318) a sample size for test-marketing studies of at least 200 is required.

3.3 Sample techniques

To obtain a sample size of 200 respondents, the selection of sampling units is left primarily to the interviewer (Malhotra, 2004). In this research different social media are used to approach potential respondents. With the use of social media it is convenient to reach a lot of respondents. The sample technique used is a combination of convenience sampling and snowball sampling.

Convenience sampling attempts to obtain a sample of convenient elements (Malhotra, 2004). In snowball sampling, an initial group of respondents is selected, usually at random. After being interviewed, these respondents are asked to identify other who belong to the target population of interest (Malhotra, 2004). In this research, for the initial group of respondents mainly student are approached to fill in the questionnaire. The respondents that fill in the questionnaire, most of which thus are students, are asked to send the questionnaire to their contacts. The goal of this combination of approaches is to obtain a sample in which respondents are alike, with the result that inferences can be drawn for groups with the same characteristics. These samples therefore are not representative of any definable population (Malhotra, 2004). Though, because resource constraints of this research, this deficiency is accepted and inferences are drawn while considering the small dispersion of the sample.

According to Malhotra (2004), internet questionnaires have the poorest response rates, even lower than e-mail questionnaires. Considering the current rise of social media and the network obtained through it though, this way of sampling is thought to be sufficient to reach a sample size of 200.

3.4 Questionnaire

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of these same claims are discussed. This order was chosen because respondents would be least influenced by statements to them in a further stadium of the research.

Demographics

To let the respondent get used to the questionnaire, it starts with some general questions about the respondents demographics. The questions asked are about the respondents gender, age, household, children, study, job and income. These questions make it possible to investigate differences in the effectiveness for claims between different groups of respondents.

Test variables

As mentioned before, the aim of this research is to test the effectiveness of different kind of claims on their scores on influence, relevance and credibility. These claims are nutrition claims (e.g., no cholesterol, reduced calorie, low carbs), production or process-related claims (e.g., organic, natural, vitamin fortified) and product information claims (e.g., taste, novel/new, convenience). General nutrition claims are kept out of this research, because a significant proportion of advertisements uses specific nutrition claims rather than general nutrition claims (Kim, Cheong and Zheng, 2009). To test the effectiveness of these different kind of claims, a set of items is developed (see table 3.1), based on information from researches conducted about claims currently used in food advertising (“The Nielsen Nutritional Labeling Survey2”, “Health Focus International (HFI) Global Trend Survey”, Datamonitor (2009) and Garretson and Burton (2000).

According to Datamonitor (2009) shoppers are clearly discriminating between food and drink products on the basis of nutritional/ingredient composition, using their greater literacy in food-related health information to guide their purchases. One trend is that compromises are increasingly made by consumers through avoidance or reduction of certain ingredients (Datamonitor, 2009). Consumers are increasingly choosing products that have ‘low’, ‘less’ or ‘zero’ ingredients perceived as ‘dietary evils’ such as sugar, fat and salt (Datamonitor, 2009). This much greater popular awareness of the key types of fats, the negative impacts of carbohydrate intake and the need to watch calorie count are changing consumers’ purchase choices. Also, widespread concern about the

2_{The Nielsen Nutritional Labeling Survey is conducted as part of a global online consumer survey by Nielsen}

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role of artificiality in food and beverage products continues to have an impact, most obviously benefiting the natural product markets (Datamonitor, 2009).

According to The Nielsen Nutritional Labeling Survey, fat is at the top of consumers’ hit list, with 48% always checking for it. After fat, calories are the most checked for on a nutritional label, with just under half (45%) always checking the product’s energy content, followed by preservatives (42%) and sugar (41%). Consistent with the results of this survey, findings from a previous study of nutrition labels indicate that including information about fat is considerably more important to consumers than including information about, for example, fibers (Garretson and Burton, 2000). HFI Global Trend Survey has created a top 10 of important information on food labels, with 28% of the Dutch consumers finding it important that a product is ‘all natural’. The same amount of consumers takes notion of ‘fat free/no fat’ products or ‘low fat/reduced fat’ products. Finally, 27% of Dutch consumers wants their product only natural coloured and looks for the claim ‘no artificial colours’, a production or process-related claim.

That fat is a more obvious concern among Europeans (Datamonitor, 2009) becomes visible when looking at the market share of the different kind of claims. According the report from Nielsen 25% of the market share of nutritional claims are claims about fat presence. The second largest in food products is ‘natural’, which is a production or process-related claim. Third in market share are claims about the calorie presence in the product. According to research conducted by Datamonitor (2009) watching calories is not appealing to the greater proportion of Europeans, but manufacturers have been banking on attracting a greater proportion of individuals by introducing 100 calorie food products to market. More influential to consumer food choices is sugar, with for the most part, 30-45% of Datamonitor survey respondents stating that they pay a high amount of attention to the amount of sugar in their diet, or that low sugar claims are influential in their food choices (Datamonitor, 2009). When focusing on niche products, the most important claims are ‘fiber presence’ and ‘organic’, the last one being a production or process-related claim again.

(Non-) Commercial Nutrition Claims in Confectionery: a little too much information?

Confectionery:

a little too much information?

Master Thesis

(Non-) Commercial Nutrition Claims in

Confectionery:

a little too much information?

Master Thesis Business Administration: Marketing Management

University of Groningen, Faculty Economics and Business

Myriam den Blanken

De Cnollenbijter 23

1911 KA Uitgeest

Phone number: +31615548147

Student number: 1440349

Management Summary

Preface

Table of Contents

Table of Figures

Table of Tables

1.

Introduction

2.

Literature Framework

3.

Methodology