School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100089, China.
School of Internet Economics and Business, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350002, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 16;19(6):3463. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063463.
(1) Background: Obesity has become a global epidemic that arouse much attention from governments, companies and scholar. Physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labels are introduced as a more effective nudge invention on less-calorie ordering. However, the effects of PACE labels are controversial in previous literature, thus, the research objective is to explore the effects of different PACE labels and furtherly to explore the underlying psychological mechanism; (2) Methods: Across four scenario-based experiments, involving potato chips, chocolate and cookies, this study manipulated the three calorie-information labeling (standard calorie label, long time PACE and short time PACE labels). Meanwhile, the mediating mechanism of the effects involving anticipatory guilt and the moderation effects between consumers' future self-continuity and PACE labels are also measured; (3) Results: Results show that compared with the short time PACE and calorie labels, the longtime PACE labels have more negative influence on consumers' purchase intention for unhealthy food. What's more, the anticipatory guilt has negative effect of PACE labels as consumers are often prone to feeling guilty in the process of unhealthy food consumption. In addition, individuals with high future self-continuity have higher self-control and take more consideration of future outcomes, they are reluctant to choose unhealthy food than others; (4) Conclusions: Unhealthy food with a long time PACE label has more negative effect on consumers' purchase intention rather than a short time PACE label. At the same time, companies that produce healthy foods should actively participate in the movement to label calories through the PACE labels.
（1）背景：肥胖已成为全球关注的热点问题，引起了各国政府、企业和学者的广泛关注。体力活动热量当量（PACE）标签作为一种更有效的低热量点餐提示工具被引入。然而，PACE 标签在先前的文献中效果存在争议，因此，本研究的目的是探索不同 PACE 标签的效果，并进一步探索其潜在的心理机制；（2）方法：通过四个基于情景的实验，涉及薯片、巧克力和饼干，本研究操纵了三种卡路里信息标签（标准卡路里标签、长时间 PACE 标签和短时间 PACE 标签）。同时，还测量了预期内疚感的中介机制以及消费者未来自我连续性与 PACE 标签之间的调节作用；（3）结果：结果表明，与短时间 PACE 标签和卡路里标签相比，长时间 PACE 标签对消费者购买不健康食品的意愿产生更负面的影响。此外，预期内疚感对 PACE 标签有负面影响，因为消费者在不健康食品消费过程中往往容易感到内疚。另外，未来自我连续性高的个体具有更高的自我控制能力，更多地考虑未来的结果，他们比其他人更不愿意选择不健康的食品；（4）结论：具有长时间 PACE 标签的不健康食品对消费者购买意愿的负面影响大于具有短时间 PACE 标签的不健康食品。同时，生产健康食品的公司应通过 PACE 标签积极参与卡路里标签运动。
