Consumer Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior towards Food Supplements that Consumers use to Maintain Body Shape according to the Advertising Term of a Role Model

Abstract

Background: Food supplements are one of the most popular options for consumers who want to maintain body shape, and advertising by role models is part of increasing product utilization. In the past, many products have been found to be illegal, such as those containing drugs or harmful substances or advertising that did not comply with laws and academic facts, such as claims of weight loss or therapeutic properties, which have always misled consumers. It represented the potential risk to consumers from consuming unsafe food supplements.

Objectives: To explore the level of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers who have seen model-based advertising on body care supplements; to study the relationship between knowledge, attitude, and dietary supplement consumption behavior for body shape care; and to compare consumer attitudes towards body care supplements advertised using role models.

Methods: It was a quantitative study between April and October 2021. Data were collected using an online questionnaire randomly sampled from 400 consumers aged 20 years and older who have consumed body care supplements in the past 3 months and have seen advertisements for body care supplements using role models. It used a five-level rating scale to measure attitudes and behaviors, determine the Pearson correlation coefficient, measure variance one-way, and compare them in pairs with Scheffe's method if differences were found between variables.

Results: The results presented showed that the majority of consumers were female, aged between 20 and 29 years old, with a BMI within the normal range, but they felt overweight and dissatisfied with their body shape. Most of them recognised the celebrities advertisements for body care supplements on the Internet. The majority of consumers knowledge was low (39.50%). The highest knowledge was to display the FDA mark on the label of food supplements (92.00%), and the lowest was the safety of consuming food supplements (30.25%). The average overall attitude about food supplements for body care was good at 3.62 out of 5. The average attitude of five characteristics of a role model, such as trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, respect, and similarity, was seen in 3.58, 3.72, 3.70, 3.60, and 3.50. The average consumption of food supplements for body care was 3.46 out of 5 stars. The two highest scores were reading the leaflet thoroughly and searching for product safety information before purchasing (3.86 and 3.87 out of 5). The 3 lowest scores were consulting a doctor or pharmacist before taking food supplements for body care, purchasing products from the internet, and taking supplements without exercise or food control (3.16, 3.17, and 3.18 out of 5). The positive correlation between knowledge and consumption behaviour of food supplements for body care was found with statistical significance at p-value = 0.000, while attitude had no correlation with the behaviour. A statistically significant difference in the attractive attitude of supplements was shown in consumers who saw advertisements by celebrities and intimate people at a p-value of 0.042, but the overall attitude was not different between consumers who saw the advertisements by each characteristic of a role model. When searching the products that consumers were taking during three months with the FDA's database, it was found that: 44.44% were products with FDA number cancellation information; 40.3% of products have an FDA number; and 12.2% of products did not have an FDA number or could not be searched in the database.

Conclusions: The majority of consumers knowledge was at a low level, their attitudes about food supplements for body care were at a good level, and their consumption behaviour was at a moderate level. The level of knowledge was correlated with consumption behaviour. Some consumers were taking products that may be unsafe, such as those that did not have an FDA license. Based on the major findings, the potential for consumer and manufacturer compliance with the law as a result of using food supplements more safely.