This work is to find out the effect of full ingredient labeling system of cosmetics on the cosmetic product selection when the women see if a certain kind that they purchase fits them after choosing a group of women at the age from the 20s to the 50s ...
This work is to find out the effect of full ingredient labeling system of cosmetics on the cosmetic product selection when the women see if a certain kind that they purchase fits them after choosing a group of women at the age from the 20s to the 50s and analyzing how well they are aware of this system. According to the finding, most of the consumers responded that they did not know well what the full ingredient labeling system of cosmetics is. Though recognized by part of them, it was indicated that they were in the recognizable level only enough to say "There is an overall marking on the cosmetic ingredients," and this belonged to the highest percentile group out of the recognized users. In the question if they use the cosmetics based on their knowledge on the product information, they responded in the order of 'average', 'yes' and 'no'.
Among the respondents, those interested in their skin showed a higher level of confirmation about the full ingredient labeling than those not interested in it. In regard to the problem in marking the label on the cosmetic products, they showed their concern in the order of 'all have the problem', 'unable to understand the label as the production date and ingredient are written in a foreign language', and 'hard to understand the label though written in Korean as it is difficult to comprehend.' This could be problematic even though the user is interested in the labeling system of the cosmetic products and has confirmed the indications on label because they are expressed in the special terms and foreign language and she fails to understand them. Thus, there is yet to be improved on this system. The indicative part that the consumers pay attention to carefully was the product name and brand with the highest responding rate. The next was the production number and date and then all ingredients used for production of cosmetics. Judging from this fact, it can be inferred that many of the consumers regard most important the product name and its brand and that the full ingredient labeling system does not give much influence on their purchasing behavior for cosmetics. This implies that some should be taken into consideration to think over the effectiveness about the full ingredient labeling system of cosmetics which was adopted as mandatory by the government in 2008.
The "full ingredient labeling system for the cosmetics", which was pronounced as ordinance from Ministry of Health and Welfare first in 2008, is intended for product information on ingredients. Once provided for the consumers, it was expected that this system would be very effective for the individuals to make selection in the safe and suitable manners to them. However, this survey to see the users' recognition pattern turned out that the labeling system does not have enough effects practically.
In the questioning item of satisfaction degree by the consumers in purchasing the products, the item of "regretted" was ranked highest. In addition, through the survey about their demand on production indication, it was found that the labeling information on product was perceived to be an important factor by them when they purchased it even though they did not fully get at what that means. The full ingredient labeling system for cosmetics could be of great significance as channel of information available on the part of a user when purchasing them. Therefore, it is necessary that the publication be made so that the prospective user can have careful access to this full ingredient labeling system even before the purchasing step to make best use of the system as production information.
This study showed secondhand whether the full ingredient labeling could play an appropriate role as a warning message to the consumer and become a proper medium in delivering the safety information through the positive validation test. Also, this paper could be meaningful in preparation of publication policy in the future in that the performed work here would set up the framework for consumer-oriented safety information on cosmetics and provide the direction of training and publication.