Background: Point-of-sale (POS) interventions encouraging consumers to critically evaluate sugary drinks could encourage reduced consumption of these drinks and reinforce messages from social marketing campaigns.
Aim: To (i) examine whether POS information about the nutrition content and potential health effects of sugary drinks promotes healthier drink choices and (ii) explore whether impacts of POS information on consumer drink choices vary based on whether participants have been exposed to a new Cancer Council Victoria sugary drink campaign (13 Cancers).
Methods: Using a controlled online experimental design, N=3,034 Australian adults (~50% Victorian) aged 18 to 59 years were randomly assigned to one of five POS signage conditions: no signage (control); sugar content; Health Star Rating; text health warning; graphic health warning. Participants were shown their randomly assigned POS sign alone, and then alongside a display of drink products and asked to select which drink they would choose to buy for themselves. Following this task, participants completed ratings of their perceptions of various drink products.
Results: The proportion of participants selecting a sugary drink was significantly lower among those who had been exposed to one of the four POS signs (29%-37%) compared to those who had seen no sign (43%), with the biggest effect found for the sugar content sign. These same effects were observed among participants who had not previously been exposed to the 13 Cancers campaign; however, among those who had seen the 13 Cancers video advertisement, the POS signs did not lead to significant reductions in sugary drink choices over and above what exposure to the campaign provided.
Conclusion: POS signage has the potential to shift consumers away from choosing sugary drinks and could complement mass media campaigns by reaching people who may not otherwise be exposed to public health messages about sugary drinks.