Comparing the Effects of Front-of-Package Labeling Schemes in Indonesia

Comparing the Effects of Two Front-of-Package Labeling Schemes Among Indonesian Consumers

The goal of this study is to examine what type of front-of-package label (FOPL) would be most effective at discouraging consumption of products high in nutrients of concern in Indonesia. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are:

1. Would nutrient warning labels be more effective at discouraging consumption of products high in nutrients of concern compared to the Nutri-Level label?
2. Would nutrient warning labels improve consumers' ability to identify unhealthy products compared to the Nutri-Level label?

Additionally, this experiment also aims to determine how should nutrient warning labels be designed to most effectively discourage consumption of products high in nutrients of concern among Indonesian consumers.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Nutrition; Obesity & Overweight
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Nutrient Warning Label; Behavioral: Nutri-Level

Detailed Description

Participants will complete an online randomized experiment programmed in Qualtrics. Following online consent, participants will be randomly assigned to one of two arms: 1. Nutrient Warning Label 2. Nutri-Level Label (color-coded summary nutritional label). Participants will view four different products (sweet tea, sausages, instant noodles, and yogurt) carrying their assigned label and will answer a series of questions about the products and the labels. All participants will then see nutrient warning labels with different designs in random order, and will select the label design they consider to best signal when products have high in nutrients of concern. Survey questions will also include standard demographic and health related variables.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 1000
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Aline D'Angelo Campos, PhD, MPP; Phone Number: 919-962-1136; Email: adangelo-campos@unc.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Corey Levinson, MPH; Email: corey_levinson@unc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, 27516
      • Carolina Population Center
      • Contact: Aline D'Angelo Campos; Phone Number: 919-962-6111; Email: adangelo-campos@unc.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 years of age or older
• Lives in Indonesia
• Able to read and write in Indonesian
• Has purchased processed foods in the last month

Exclusion Criteria:

• Less than 18 years old
• Does not live in Indonesia
• Not able to read and write in Indonesian
• Has not purchased processed foods in the last month

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Nutrient Warning Label; Participants are assigned to view food products displaying nutrient warning labels indicating that the product is high in sugar, salt, and/or fat.	Behavioral: Nutrient Warning Label; Presentation of food products with one or more nutrient warning labels (black octagons) indicating that the product is high in sugar, salt, and/or fat.
Experimental: Nutri-Level; Participants are assigned to view food products displaying a Nutri-Level summary nutrition label.	Behavioral: Nutri-Level; Presentation of food products with a Nutri-Level summary nutrition label assigning a letter grade (A-D) based on sugar, salt, and/or fat content.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Correct identification of products high in nutrients of concern	Correct identification of products as high in nutrients of concern will be measured categorically by survey. Response will be coded in a dichotomous 0-1 range, where 1 indicates that the participant correctly identified that the product was high in a nutrient of concern and 0 indicates that the participant did not correctly identify that the products was high in a nutrient of concern.	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived message effectiveness	Perceived message effectiveness will be measured by survey through a three-item scale. Items will inquire about how much participants perceive the labels to (1) discourage them from wanting to buy products with non-nutritive sweeteners for their child, (2) make them concerned about the health effects of their child consuming products with non-nutritive sweeteners, and (3) make buying products with non-nutritive sweeteners for their child seem unpleasant to them. Response options will be on a 5-point scale between "not at all" (coded as 1) and "very much" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing a higher perceived message effectiveness. Each participant's responses to each item will be combined to obtain their final score on the outcome.	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.
Attention drawn by the labels	How much attention the labels draw will be measured by survey. Response options will be on a 5-point scale between "not at all" (coded as 1) and "extremely" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing more attention drawn by the labels.	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.
Ease of understanding the labels	How easy or difficult the information presented by the labels is to understand will be measured by survey. Response options will be on a 5-point scale between "very difficult" (coded as 1) and "very easy" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing higher ease of understanding the labels.	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.
Support for the labels	How much participants would oppose or support a law requiring the labels products with too much sugar, salt, and fat will be measured by survey. Response options will be on a 5-point scale between "strongly oppose" (coded as 1) and "Strongly support" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing higher support for the labels.	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.
Trust in the labels	How much participants trust or distrust the information presented by the labels will be measured by survey. Response options will be on a 5-point scale between "distrust completely" (coded as 1) and "trust completely" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing more trust in the labels.	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.
Cultural acceptance of the labels	How acceptable would the labels would be in Indonesian society will be measured by survey. Response options will be on a 5-point scale between "completely unacceptable" (coded as 1) and "completely acceptable" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing more cultural acceptance of the labels.	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.
Reactance to the labels	Reactance to the labels will be measured by survey through a three-item scale. Items will inquire about how much participants agree or disagree that the labels (1) are trying to manipulate them, (2) are overblown, and (3) annoy them. Response options to each item will be on a 5-point scale between "strongly disagree" (coded as 1) and "strongly agree" (coded as 5), with higher scores representing a reactance to the labels. Each participant's responses to each item will be averaged to obtain their final score on the outcome on a scale between 1-5, where a higher score indicates higher reactance to the labels.	During exposure to intervention (i.e., study stimuli), assessed during one-time online 10-minute survey.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Collaborators: Bloomberg Philanthropies
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lindsey S Taillie, PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): April 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 6, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 6, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): April 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 6, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nutrition Disorders; Overnutrition; Body Weight; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Overweight; Obesity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 26-0181

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan will be shared prior to data collection. After data collection and analysis, a de-identified version of individual participant data and the analytic code will be shared through the Open Science Framework (OSF).
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: The Study Protocol and statistical analysis plan will be available by April 2026 (prior to data collection). A de-identified version of the data collected and analytic code used will become available after data collection and analysis and will remain available indefinitely.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Open access
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No