Less delicious but more natural: The effect of the natural label in promoting ugly food consumption

Consumer’s aversion to edible foods with appearance defects is a major cause of food waste. A proper labelling is one of the effective actions to advance consumer behaviors. In this study, the effect of attributes (taste, health and natural attributes) on consumer’s purchase intention for ugly food was investigated, and its boundary condition was further analyzed. Three scenario-based experiments were carried out, and consumers' purchase intention, perceived value and perceived attribute of ugly food in pretty food group, ugly food group and natural label group were compared. Results show that consumers' perception barriers to ugly food exist in taste and health attributes, rather than natural attribute. Ugly food with low appearance level leads to consumer's lower evaluation on taste and health attributes for ugly food, which further affects the consumers' purchase intention. What’s more, the moderation effect between consumers' self-monitoring and natural label was also measured. It is proven that the natural label promotes consumers' purchase intention for ugly food. When consumers are in low self-monitoring, the promotion effect of natural label on the purchase intention of ugly food fails. It is indicated that consumers’ negative evaluation on the ugly food is due to perceptual barriers, which is derived from an aesthetically biased lay belief, However, this lay belief doesn’t affect the consumers' judgment of natural attribute of ugly food. This study also provides reference for natural labeling on improving the consumer’s purchase intention for ugly food in the food market.