Knowledge as a Key Factor in Consumption and Its Importance for Agrifood Product Communication

Consumer knowledge is a variable that has been widely studied in the literature due to its strong influence on behavior, which could be crucial in some specific contexts where product consumption largely depends on what the consumer specifically knows about the product in question. Communication campaigns designed to convey clear and useful information for the purchase decision are the key to increasing knowledge and, consequently, consumption. Using data collected from a total of 3200 olive oils consumers (Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Denmark), this work studies the level of consumer objective knowledge of olive oils, an essential component of the Mediterranean diet and offers several recommendations for informing communication strategy in this sector to improve knowledge and drive up the consumption of high-quality oil. The results reveal significant differences and, in general, a great lack of knowledge and confusion around olive oils in the analyzed countries, particularly in nonproducing countries.