The Impact of Front-of-Package Label Design on Consumer Understanding of Nutrient Amounts

A between-groups experiment examined the salience of front-of-package (FOP) symbols. Adults from Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK completed an online survey (n = 11,617). Respondents were randomized to view cereal boxes displaying one of 11 FOP label conditions for ‘high’ levels of sugar and saturated fat: control (no FOP symbol), red circle, red ‘stop sign’, magnifying glass, magnifying glass + exclamation mark, and ‘caution’ triangle + exclamation mark, plus each of these five conditions accompanied by a ‘high in’ text descriptor. Participants identified the amount of saturated fat and sugar in the product (‘low’/’moderate’/’high’). Participants were more likely to correctly identify the product as ‘high’ in saturated fat or sugar when shown the stop sign, triangle + exclamation mark, red circle, or magnifying glass + exclamation mark symbols incorporating ‘high in’ text (p < 0.01). The magnifying glass was the least effective symbol. The stop sign (37.7%) and triangle + exclamation mark (22.0%) were most frequently selected as the best symbol for indicating high nutrient amounts. Overall, FOP labels with ‘high in’ descriptions, red color and intuitive ‘warning’ symbols (e.g., stop signs, exclamation marks, ‘caution’ triangles) were more effective at communicating high levels of nutrients of public health concern in a time-limited environment.

The Impact of Technology on Winter Sport Tourism

We are witnessing a rapidly changing communications environment dominated by digital technology. To illustrate how quickly technology is advancing, take the example of Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller Minority Report. In 1999, the director convened a three-day think tank to gather insights from 23 top futurists for the making of the movie, which depicted the world of 2054. The goal was to create a realistic view of a plausible future 50 years ahead. Projecting out from the present day’s marketing and media technologies, Spielberg depicted an advertising-saturated society where billboards call out to passers-by on a first-name basis, cereal boxes broadcast animated commercials, newspapers deliver news instantly over a broadband wireless network, holographic hosts greet customers by name at retail stores, and where biometric retina scans deduct the cost of goods instantly from bank accounts (Mathieson, 2002). The technologies portrayed in the film were far from science fiction, and today many are in use or are in development – an indication of the rapid pace of technological change. Technology and the Internet have fundamentally altered the way the world interacts and communicates. Traditional approaches to branding that put emphasis on mass media techniques are less and less effective in a marketplace where customers have access to massive amounts of information about brands, product and companies and in which social networks have, in some cases, supplanted brand networks (Keller, 2009). In the new media environment, consumers are increasingly in control. Not only do they have more choices of media to use, they also have a choice about whether and how they want to receive commercial content. In response marketers are employing more varied marketing communications techniques than ever before – see the Powder Matt Snapshot above for examples. Table 1 summarizes some of the interactive marketing communication options that are now available.

Maximizing Volume with Solids and Nets

This month's activity explores rectangular prisms (e.g., cereal boxes) to ascertain why it is such a popular shape. An activity sheet is included.

Designing a Product Package Platform

An essential part of designing a successful product family is establishing a recognizable, familiar, product family identity. It is very often the case that consumers first identify products based on their physical embodiment. The Apple iPod, DeWalt power tools, and KitchenAid appliances are all examples of product families that have successfully branded themselves based on physical principles. While physical branding is often the first trait apparent to designers, there are some products that cannot be differentiated based on physical appearance. This is especially common for consumable products. For example, it is impossible to differentiate between diet Coke, Classic Coke, and Pepsi when each is poured into separate glasses. When differentiation is difficult to achieve from a product’s physical characteristics, the product’s package becomes a vital part of establishing branding and communicating membership to a product family while maintaining individual product identity. In this paper, product packaging is investigated with a focus on the graphic packaging components that identify product families. These components include: color, shape, typography, and imagery. Through the application of tools used in facilities layout planning, graph theory, social network theory, and display design theory an approach to determine an optimal arrangement of graphic components is achieved. This approach is validated using a web based survey that tracks user-package interactions across a range of commonly used cereal boxes.

The Business of Missing Children

No pediatric issue has so captured the attention of the American public during the past year as that of missing children. It is impossible to escape the haunting faces who peer out at us from television screens, milk cartons, breakfast cereal boxes, grocery sacks, bus posters, and business envelopes. Corporations vie with each other over sponsorship of public service campaigns to "publicize the plight of missing children," while television stations compete with a whole variety of specials. Naturally, whenever emotional concerns of such magnitude are raised, politicians are sure to become involved with stern demands for "immediate action." In May 1985, no less than three separate congressional committees held hearings on missing children all in the same week.