Tag: Consumer confusion

According to a 2023 survey by Which?, a UK consumer group, a third of respondents mistakenly thought a large tub of Pringles contained only 2–4 portions, when the label indicated 6–7. This confusion highlights a common phenomenon where packages of food sometimes look like a single size when they actually contain multiple servings, leading to inadvertent overconsumption.

According to a 2023 New York Times article, there is significant consumer confusion surrounding the ownership of nutritional drink brands. The popular nutritional supplement Ensure is often incorrectly assumed to be a Nestlé product due to market competition with its rival, Boost.

A study found that nearly 59% of consumers have a hard time understanding nutrition labels, making it difficult to assess the true nutritional value of their purchases. This widespread confusion is no accident; many food labels are intentionally designed to mislead shoppers through clever marketing, obscure terminology, and strategic presentation of information.

Despite containing no added sweeteners during production, pure maple syrup is still counted toward the daily limit for "added sugars" under FDA guidelines. This confusing regulatory choice stems from a broader goal of helping consumers track total intake of all concentrated sweeteners, not an indication that something was manually added to the product.

According to U.S. food labeling regulations, even 100% pure honey is considered an 'added sugar' for nutritional purposes because it is not an inherent part of other foods it is added to, which explains why your raw honey says added sugar. This distinction often leads to consumer confusion, mistakenly suggesting that sweeteners were physically mixed into the honey itself.

A common point of confusion exists because there are two prominent brands with similar names: Bloom Energy, the fuel cell manufacturer, and Bloom Nutrition, the popular sparkling energy drink brand. The question, 'Does Bloom energy have fake sugar?' is born from this mix-up, leading many to wonder about the ingredients in these unrelated companies' products.

According to a 2011 study on milkshake labels, consumers’ physiological responses were significantly altered by misleading calorie counts, demonstrating a powerful psychological con of food labelling. Beyond such psychological effects, other drawbacks include deceptive marketing and regulatory weaknesses.

With over a billion dollars in retail sales, the popularity of BodyArmor sports drinks is clear, but a persistent confusion remains: which body armors have caffeine? The definitive answer is none—because the caffeinated product is a beverage, not a piece of protective equipment.

According to some studies, a significant portion of consumers associate organic and natural products with superior health and safety outcomes. But the question remains: does natural or organic always mean better? The truth is more nuanced than marketing often suggests.

Despite the prominence of the "natural" label on grocery store shelves, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no formal, regulatory definition for what is the definition of natural in nutrition. This lack of clear guidance often leads to significant consumer confusion and misunderstanding about a food's quality or health benefits.