Purpose

A visual sweetness scale with an arrow pointing to a specific sweetness level is now required on all labels of AOC Alsace. The sweetness scale makes it easier for consumers to understand what is in the bottle. What is less clear, however, is whether such labeling is always effective. To fill this gap, the current research paper aims to examine the positive and negative effects (double-edged effects) of a visual sweetness scale and identify the boundary condition.

Design/methodology/approach

Two studies were conducted using a 2 (cue type: scale vs text) by 2 (consumer type: novices vs experienced wine consumers) between-subjects, quasi-experimental design.

Findings

The double-edged effects are only significant among wine novices. Specifically, though wine novices are more likely to purchase wine with a sweetness scale (vs text) due to perceived diagnosticity (Study 1), they are unwilling to pay more due to low perceived quality (Study 2).

Practical implications

The study findings provide practical implications for wine producers, marketers and restaurants regarding when and how to use the sweetness scale on wine labels and wine service.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to reveal the impact of visualizing wine style on wine labels. More importantly, while most previous research demonstrates the positive effects of using visual cues, this research sheds light on its drawbacks and examines the underlying mechanisms.

中文翻译：

---

葡萄酒风格可视化的双刃剑：葡萄酒标签上的甜度等级

目的

现在，阿尔萨斯 AOC 的所有标签都需要带有指向特定甜度水平的箭头的视觉甜度等级。甜度等级使消费者更容易了解瓶中的成分。然而，不太清楚的是这种标签是否总是有效。为了填补这一空白，当前的研究论文旨在检查视觉甜度量表的正面和负面影响（双刃效应）并确定边界条件。

设计/方法论/途径

两项研究采用 2（提示类型：规模与文本）× 2（消费者类型：新手与经验丰富的葡萄酒消费者）受试者之间的准实验设计进行。

发现

这种双刃剑的影响只对葡萄酒新手来说才显着。具体来说，尽管葡萄酒新手由于感知诊断性而更有可能购买具有甜度等级（相对于文本）的葡萄酒（研究1），但由于感知质量较低，他们不愿意支付更多费用（研究2）。

实际影响

该研究结果为葡萄酒生产商、营销人员和餐馆提供了关于何时以及如何在葡萄酒标签和葡萄酒服务上使用甜度等级的实际意义。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，这项研究首次揭示了葡萄酒风格可视化对葡萄酒标签的影响。更重要的是，虽然大多数先前的研究都证明了使用视觉线索的积极影响，但这项研究揭示了其缺点并检查了潜在的机制。