LANGUAGE TRANSPARENCY AND READABILITY OF CONSUMER INFORMATION IN FOOD PRODUCT LABELLING AND PACKAGING

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study
There are thousands of new products are introduced in the market each year (Booz, Allen and Hamilton, 1982). It is crucial for marketing managers to know the strategy of advertising their new products since a consumer’s decision to purchase new product is based on advertising. In addition, the information presented in advertisement can have a large impact of consumers’ evaluations (Dacin, 1998). However, for food products, advertising is not only the main factor in marketing strategy but a label also act as a central part of the sellers’ marketing strategy (Consumer Interest Alliance Inc, 2007). The product labels itself play important factors of the communication process between manufacturers and consumers. Food labels plays a key role to become a medium for informing consumers about product features, including those addressing nutrition, safety, handling, use, and disposal (Zou, 2011).
Other factors other than demographic characteristics that influence the choice of foods are product’s attributes such as price and taste, information obtained from the label etc. The ability to choose foods based on information obtained on its label requires knowledge and ability to read understand and interpret the information (Sunelle et al, 2010). Therefore, the function of language in the food labelling is important to comprehend the