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NCT Number: NCT07528443

Ultraprocessed Foods in Colombia

The study seeks to examine how characters on packaging and warning labels affect purchase intentions and risk perception among children aged 12 to 17 in Colombia and, examine whether characters' presence weakens or reduces the perceived message effectiveness of the warning labels' impact. This will be a 2x2 between-subjects experiment manipulating presence or absence of characters and presence or absence of warning labels. Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions in an online survey programmed in Qualtrics.

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Key information

Conditions

Obesity Body Weight Nutrition Disorders Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases Overnutrition Overweight Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms

Age range

12 year–17 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Online panel

Bogotá, Colombia

Location contact

Luis F Gómez

CONTACT

[email protected]

(+57) 601 320 8320 Ext. 2843

Luis Fernando Gómez Guitierrez, MD

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

About this study

This study will employ a 2x2 between-subjects experimental design to investigate the independent and combined effects of characters and front-of-package warning labels on children's risk perceptions, purchase intentions and perceived message effectiveness regarding ultra-processed foods.

After parents or legal guardians provide informed consent and the children assent to participate, the survey platform (Qualtrics) will randomly assign each child to one of four experimental conditions:

  • Warning label + Character
  • Warning label only
  • Barcode control label + Character
  • Barcode control label only

Participants will complete the study online through a self-administered survey programmed in Qualtrics. This survey has a duration of approximately 15 minutes. Each child will be exposed to three fictional ultra-processed food products (cookies package, juice bottle, and chip bag), displayed in random order. The stimuli were developed to resemble common products in Colombia but without using real brands to avoid brand loyalty bias. Each product will be displayed with a label consistent with the child's assigned experimental condition.

Children will respond to a series of questions for each product individually. These questions will assess:

  • Risk perception
  • Purchase intention
  • Perceived message effectiveness

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Children and adolescents between 12 and 17 years old
  • Colombian residents

Exclusion criteria

  • Children with legal blindness, partial blindness, or total blindness, since the study involves viewing images and reading questions.

Treatment and study plan

Warning label

Behavioral

Participants will view images of three products containing octagonal warning labels.

Barcode control label

Behavioral

Participants will view images of three products containing Barcode control label.

Character

Behavioral

Participants will view images of three products containing characters.

Without character

Behavioral

Participants will view images of three products without characters.

Primary outcomes

  1. Purchase intention

    Time frame: During ~15 minute online survey

    Purchase intention will be assessed using 1 item: "How likely are you to consume this product?" Responses will be recorded on a 5-point Likert-style scale ranging from 1 ("Not at all likely") to 5 ("Very likely"). Because this is a single-item measure, the total score ranges from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicate greater purchase intention, whereas lower scores indicate lower purchase intention.

  2. Risk perception

    Time frame: During ~15 minute online survey

    Risk perception will be assessed using 1 item: "How healthy do you think this product is?" Responses will be recorded on a 5-point Likert-style scale ranging from 1 ("Not healthy at all") to 5 ("Very healthy"). Because this is a single-item measure, the total score ranges from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicate that the product is perceived as healthier (i.e., lower perceived risk), whereas lower scores indicate that the product is perceived as less healthy (i.e., higher perceived risk).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Perceived Message Effectiveness

    Time frame: During ~15 minute online survey

    Perceived message effectiveness will be assessed using 3 items, each measured on a 5-point Likert-style scale (1-5):

    "How much does this label make you worry about what consuming this product will do to you?" (1 = Not at all worried; 5 = Extremely worried) "How much does this label make you think consuming this product is a bad idea?" (1 = Makes me think it's a very good idea to consume it; 5 = Makes me think it's a very bad idea to consume it) "How much does this label discourage you from consuming this product?"

    (1 = Doesn't discourage me at all; 5 = Completely discourages me) For each product evaluated, a perceived message effectiveness score will be calculated as the mean of the 3 items, resulting in a score ranging from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicate greater perceived message effectiveness, whereas lower scores indicate lower perceived message effectiveness.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Maria Parra-Murillo

CONTACT

[email protected]

9843220948

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Other

Collaborators

  • Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
  • The Bloomberg Family Foundation, Inc.

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Apr 14, 2026
Registry last updated
Jun 25, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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