When food products are marketed based on characteristics
that are basically unascertainable, this means
quality perception becomes almost exclusively a question
of communication. Three major determinants of the
effect of persuasive communication have been shown to
be the credibility of the source and the motivation and
ability of the receiver to process the information (Petty
& Cacioppo, 1981; Petty, Unnava, & Strathman, 1991).
When the information concerns quality dimensions
which consumers are interested in, we can assume that
they to some extent are motivated to process the information,
leaving credibility and ability as two other
major factors