It has been hypothesized that consumers are more skeptical of health claims made in food ads than of health claims made on food labels. Therefore, the current research explores consumers' skepticism of health claims when the source of such claims is identified as a food ad or a food label. The study also examines whether consumers' beliefs are affected by nutrition information on food labels and whether health claims that have been challenged by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and by consumer groups are more likely to affect consumers' beliefs than are unchallenged health claims. The findings have implications for understanding the role of education in reducing consumer misperceptions of health claims.

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The authors develop a new typology of truthful but misleading advertising and labeling claims. Although several typologies of deceptive or misleading advertising appear in the literature, the authors’ typology relies on legal cases as well as a diverse set of psychological theories to provide a richer and more comprehensive understanding of why consumers are likely to be misled by a particular type of deception. The goal is to generate a better appreciation of how consumers process various types of potentially misleading information and to explore implications for further research.

Two national surveys, with a total of 2,004 respondents, were conducted to examine comprehension of the terms “recycled” and “recyclable.” Only about five percent of respondents exhibited a thorough understanding of “recycled” and “recyclable” consistent with EPA and FTC definitions. Moreover, respondents displayed a limited understanding of “pre‐consumer waste,” assumed a high percentage of recycled content in products labeled “recycled,” and inferred widespread availability of recycling facilities whenever a “recyclable” claim was made. Less educated and lower income respondents displayed higher levels of miscomprehension than more advantaged respondents. These results suggest the need for regulation of environmental advertising and labeling claims and for consumer education.

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