Effects of Sugary Drink Warning Labels

total calories purchased over four weeks in an online store.

total calories purchased in the last two weeks of the study, after the labels are removed from the store.

We will compare the percentage reporting "yes," "no," or "I don't know" to the question: "When you were buying beverages in the online store, did you notice any calorie labels next to the beverages?"

We will compare the percent responding "yes", "no," or "I did not notice any labels" in response to the question of whether the calorie label influenced their purchase.

We will compare the percent responding "yes", "no," or "I did not notice any labels" in response to the question, "When you were buying beverages in the online store, did you notice any warning labels next to the beverages?"

We will compare the percent responding "yes", "no," or "I did not notice any labels" in response to the question of whether the warning label influenced their purchase.

Participants will be prompted to remember the message on the warning labels in response to the following question: "If you saw warning labels, please type what you think the label said in the text box below." If participants cannot remember what the label said, they will be encouraged to respond with their best guess. If participants believe they did not see a label, they will be instructed to respond with "I did not see a warning label." We will examine the percent correctly recalling the label message.

Item: "How likely are you to buy this beverage in the next 4 weeks?" Responses will be measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 'Not at all' to 'Extremely'.

This scale measures parents' affect toward serving their child non-sugary beverages. We will create this outcome by averaging responses to the following two questions separately for all non-sugary beverages: "Serving this beverage to my child would make me feel like a good parent" AND "Serving this beverage to my child would make me feel like I am doing something good for my child." These will be measured on 5-point Likert scales. The average non-sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (worse outcome) to 5 (better outcome).

This scale measures parents' affect toward serving their child sugary beverages. We will create this outcome by averaging responses to the following two questions separately for all sugary beverages: "Serving this beverage to my child would make me feel like a good parent" AND "Serving this beverage to my child would make me feel like I am doing something good for my child." These will be measured on 5-point Likert scales. The average sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (better outcome) to 5 (worse outcome).

This scale measures parents' enjoyment of non-sugary beverages. We will create this outcome by averaging responses to "How delicious is this beverage?" separately for all non-sugary beverages. These will be measured on 5-point Likert scales. The average non-sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (worse outcome) to 5 (better outcome).

This scale measures parents' enjoyment of sugary beverages. We will create this outcome by averaging responses to "How delicious is this beverage?" separately for all sugary beverages. These will be measured on 5-point Likert scales. The average sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (better outcome) to 5 (worse outcome).

This scale measures parents' belief in the healthiness of non-sugary beverages. We will create this outcome by averaging responses to "How healthy is this beverage?" separately for all non-sugary beverages. These will be measured on 5-point Likert scales. The average non-sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (worse outcome) to 5 (better outcome).

This scale measures parents' belief in the healthiness of sugary beverages. We will create this outcome by averaging responses to "How healthy is this beverage?" separately for all sugary beverages. These will be measured on 5-point Likert scales. The average sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (better outcome) to 5 (worse outcome).

This scale measures parents' belief that drinking non-sugary beverages improves their child's energy and focus. We will create this outcome by averaging responses to the following two questions separately for all non-sugary beverages: "Drinking this beverage often would make my child feel energized" and "Drinking this product often would help my child focus at school." These will be measured on 5-point Likert scales. The average non-sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (worse outcome) to 5 (better outcome).

This scale measures parents' belief that drinking sugary beverages improves their child's energy and focus. We will create this outcome by averaging responses to the following two questions separately for all sugary beverages: "Drinking this beverage often would make my child feel energized" and "Drinking this product often would help my child focus at school." These will be measured on 5-point Likert scales. The average sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (better outcome) to 5 (worse outcome).

This scale measures parents' health beliefs and risk perceptions about their child's drinking non-sugary beverages. We will create this outcome by averaging the responses to the following health perception questions prompted with the statement "If my child drank this beverage often it would…" across all non-sugary beverages. The statements end with the following health belief and risk perception language: "cause my child to gain weight," "increase my child's risk of heart disease," "increase my child's risk of diabetes," "increase my child's risk of cancer," and "help my child live a healthier life." Responses to questions about weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer will be reverse coded, so higher scores on the index will indicate a stronger positive health perception of the non-sugary beverages. All variables will be measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The average non-sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (worse outcome) to 5 (better outcome).

This scale measures parents' health beliefs and risk perceptions about their child's drinking sugary beverages. We will create this outcome by averaging the responses to the following health perception questions prompted with the statement "If my child drank this beverage often it would…" across all sugary beverages. The statements end with the following health belief and risk perception language: "cause my child to gain weight," "increase my child's risk of heart disease," "increase my child's risk of diabetes," "increase my child's risk of cancer," and "help my child live a healthier life." Responses to questions about weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer will be reverse coded, so higher scores on the index will indicate a stronger positive health perception of the sugary beverages. All variables will be measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The average sugary response for each participant will yield a scale ranging 1 (better outcome) to 5 (worse outcome).

This variable will be the average across all responses to non-sugary beverages measured continuously based on open-ended text box provided to participants. Responses will be limited to a maximum of 4-digits. Numbers closer to the true average will be the better outcome.

This variable will be the average across all responses to sugary beverages measured continuously based on open-ended text box provided to participants. Responses will be limited to a maximum of 4-digits. Numbers closer to the true average will be the better outcome.

This variable will be an average across all non-sugary beverages of a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 'None' (1; better outcome) to 'A lot' (4; worse outcome).

This variable will be an average across all sugary beverages of a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 'None' (1; worse outcome) to 'A lot' (4; better outcome).

Item: "Do you think this amount of sugar for your child is…?" This variable will be measured on a 3-point Likert scale ranging from "too little" (1; worse outcome) to "too much" (3; better outcome)

Item: "How much do you trust the information on this label?". Responses will be measured on a 5-point Likert scale.

Item: "When you saw this label next to an item in the store, to what extent were you less or more likely to buy the item?" The responses will be measured on a 5-point Likert scale.

We will compare the percentage of people that had a predominantly positive reaction to the label (percentage of people that said the warning label predominantly made them feel hopeful or happy. We will average across these ratings and define this as an average score >3 on a 1-5 Likert scale)

We will compare the percentage of people that had a predominantly negative reaction to the label (percentage of people that said the warning label predominantly made them feel depressed, fearful, guilty, discouraged, annoyed, scared, disgusted or grossed out, sad, angry, or afraid. We will average across these ratings and define this as an average score >3 on a 1-5 Likert scale)

Participants will be shown a nutrition label and asked to answer some questions that will require them to read and understand the information presented on the label. This is a publically available, validated assessment. We will examine this as a moderator of label effects.