Shopper Research - Guideline Daily Amounts
GDA labels on the front of packs seemed to have
connected with consumers in a meaningful and
significant way.
In addition to the verbatims from
consumers who took part in our tracking study
which provide insight in their use, the study
revealed that quantitatively, 76% of shoppers are
aware of the term GDA and 83% now recognise
the labels themselves.
87% think the labels are easy to understand,
63% have used them to check their food choices
and even though they are now on over 20,000
products, 84% would like to see them on
even more.
The four dips of research have shown steady and
increasing use of the labels. In November 2006
49% had used them; by March 2007 this was 54%;
by September of the same year 57%; and in April
2008, 63%.
There is evidence to suggest that those shoppers
who use them are doing so to compare and
contrast items: 84% use them to pick a product
with a specific low nutrient score, 83% to compare
similar products before purchase and 80% to check
that certain products stay below a level that the
shopper has set.
In short, GDA labels on the front of packs are working
as planned.
While the purpose of the Millward Brown research was
not to compare multiple traffic lights (MTL) labels and
GDA labels side-by-side or investigate consumer usage
of MTL labels in depth, it did highlight that whilst MTL
labels seem simple to understand in principle, they are
not so clearly understood in practice.
It did ask a limited number of questions about
traffic light labels which revealed some interesting
findings. Although 76% of shoppers say they can
absorb information from the various MTL labels in the
market quickly and 76% also say they are easy to
understand, when tested, less than one consumer in
10 understood that a particular product was being
colour coded per 100g, and not per portion.
This could
cause considerable shopper confusion, with the
consumer thinking, for example, that because a ready
meal is amber for salt, it contains moderate levels of
salt in each portion when, in fact, it could contain as
much as 2.2g – more than 36% of the adult GDA.
About the Millward Brown consumer research
The studies[1] were commissioned to track awareness,
understanding, usage and influence of GDA labelling
in the UK. The research took place during four
separate time periods or 'dips' in order to evaluate
how awareness of, and attitudes towards the Guideline
Daily Amount labelling system are changing over time.
The key objectives were to monitor:
- Whether awareness and understanding of GDA
labelling has increased as a result of on-pack
visuals, above-the-line advertising and recent
advertorial activity
- Whether consumers increasingly use labels to
help them with decision-making
- Help understand how consumers use the scheme
in practice and what support they need to
increase understanding and drive further use
More information
References
- Four studies of 500 nationally representative adults aged 18+, plus a booster
of 75 D/Es (to have 200 in total) per dip, minimum 70% chief shoppers, sex, SEG
and age all to national proportions.
Last reviewed: 27 Apr 2009