Young Adult Food Messaging Experiment
An Experiment Evaluating the Effectiveness of Counter-marketing Food Messages Among Young Adults
Study Overview
Status
Conditions
Detailed Description
Participants will complete a within-subjects, randomized experiment in which they view and rate messages describing deceptive marketing tactics used by food companies to sell unhealthy products.
Messages cover five topics: (1) lying about unhealthy products being healthy, (2) engineering foods to be addictive, (3) covering up evidence about the harms of consuming unhealthy products, (4) targeting groups, (5) piggybacking on social causes to promote products. Each topic is presented in five framing variants: an unframed version and four values-based frames that connect the message to a value (e.g., authenticity, fairness). Participants also view one control message, for a total of 26 messages (5 topics × 5 framing variants, plus 1 control).
Topic order is randomized across participants; within each topic, the five framing variants are presented consecutively in random order.
Study Type
Enrollment (Estimated)
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
Study Contact
- Name: Amanda Food Policy Lab Study Team
- Phone Number: 408-598-2672
- Email: foodpolicylab@stanford.edu
Study Locations
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California
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Palo Alto, California, United States, 94304
- Stanford School of Medicine
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Contact:
- Amanda Zeitlin
- Phone Number: 408-598-2672
- Email: foodpolicylab@stanford.edu
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Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age between 18-29 years
- Reside in the United States
- Consume at least 5-6 servings per week of sugary drinks and 5-6 servings per week of sweet and salty snacks
Exclusion Criteria:
- Younger than 18 or older than 29 years
- Reside outside of the United States
- Consume less than 5-6 servings per week of sugary drinks or less than 5-6 servings per week of sweet and salty snacks
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Prevention
- Allocation: N/A
- Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
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Experimental: Experimental: Counter-marketing food messages
Participants view 26 messages. Messages cover five counter-marketing topics: (1) lying about unhealthy products being healthy, (2) engineering foods to be addictive, (3) covering up evidence about the harms of consuming unhealthy products, (4) targeting groups, (5) piggybacking on social causes to promote products. Each topic is presented in five framing variants: an unframed version and four values-based frames that connect the message to a value (e.g., authenticity, fairness). Participants also view one control message, for a total of 26 messages (5 topics × 5 framing variants, plus 1 control). Topic order is randomized across participants; within each topic, the five framing variants are presented consecutively in random order. |
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies promote unhealthy foods as healthy.
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies engineer foods to be addictive.
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies target some groups to sell their unhealthy products.
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies promote their unhealthy products by piggybacking on popular social causes.
Participants will view 5 messages about how food companies cover up evidence about the harms of their unhealthy products.
Participants will view 1 control message about fire safety.
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
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Perceived message effectiveness for discouraging consumption of unhealthy foods
Time Frame: The survey will take up to 15 minutes
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The study will assess perceived message effectiveness for discouraging consumption of sugary drinks and processed snacks with 1 item: "This message discourages me from wanting to consume sugary drinks and processed snacks."
Response options for all items will range from "Not at all" (coded as 1) to "A great deal" (coded as 5).
Higher scores indicate higher perceived message effectiveness.
The survey will measure perceived message effectiveness immediately after participants are exposed to each message.
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The survey will take up to 15 minutes
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Collaborators and Investigators
Sponsor
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Anna H. Grummon, Stanford School of Medicine
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Estimated)
Primary Completion (Estimated)
Study Completion (Estimated)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Actual)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- 85135
- R01DK142823 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
IPD Plan Description
IPD Sharing Time Frame
IPD Sharing Access Criteria
IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type
- STUDY_PROTOCOL
- SAP
- ANALYTIC_CODE
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
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