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Package color saturation and food healthfulness perceptions
Abstract
Vivid, highly saturated colors are often perceived as exciting and arousing, making them popular in branding and package design. However, are foods packaged in vivid colors also perceived as unhealthful? Across four experiments, we demonstrate that consumers appear to perceive foods in vivid, highly color-saturated food packaging as less healthful than foods in muted, less color-saturated packaging. Further, we demonstrate that conceptual fluency mediates the effect, subjective nutrition knowledge weakens the effect, and restrained eating behavior strengthens the effect. We contribute to the color literature that explores the distinct effects of different color elements on consumer perceptions. We also advance the food well-being literature by identifying a new heuristic that affects food well-being, and in doing so, join other researchers who have connected learned color associations to substantive consumer outcomes. Finally, we offer food marketers new insights into consumers' evaluations of their products.
... Þegar hvítum er blandið við tiltekinn lit verður birtustig hans haerra, en þegar svörtum er blandað við litinn verður birtustigið laegra. Litastyrkur er hins vegar háður því hversu mikið af gráum lit er blandað við litinn (McKinley, 2018). Eftir því sem meira af gráum er blandað við tiltekinn lit því minni verður litastyrkurinn. ...
... Birtustig vísar til þess hversu ljós eða dökkur litur er (sjá mynd 1). Þegar litir hafa meðalbirtustig (50%) eru þeir kallaðir grunntónar (McKinley, 2018). Ef hvítum lit er blandað við grunntón verður birtustigið haerra og liturinn þar með ljósari. ...
... Þegar litastyrkur er í hámarki er litur eins bjartur og skýr og hann getur orðið en með því að blanda gráum saman við er dregið úr styrk litarins. Styrkur litar er því háður því hversu miklu af gráum er búið að blanda saman við litatóninn (McKinley, 2018). ...
Einkennisliti vörumerkja er hægt að nýta til að skapa tiltekin hugrenningartengsl hjá neytendum og kalla fram tiltekna hegðun. Flestar rannsóknir á litum hafa snúið að áhrifum ólíkra lita, en minna hefur farið fyrir rannsóknum á ólíkum útfærslum af sama grunnlit. Rannsókninni var ætlað að draga úr skorti á slíkum rannsóknum. Í ljósi þess að fyrri rannsóknir hafa sýnt nokkuð samræmdar niðurstöður þess efnis að blár dragi fram skynjun um trúverðugleika voru áhrif ólíkra útfærslna af bláum lit könnuð. Markmiðið var annars vegar að mæla hvort birtustig og litastyrkur hafi áhrif á skynjun neytenda á trúverðugleika fyrirtækis sem nýtir bláan sem einkennislit og hins vegar hvort birtustig og litastyrkur hafi áhrif á áform neytenda um að stunda viðskipti við fyrirtækið. Notast var við tilraunasnið með millihópasniði þar sem þátttakendur (n=528) fengu, með handahófskenndum hætti, eitt af fimm áreitum. Áreitin voru mynd frá skrifstofu fyrirtækis, þar sem blár veggur með myndmerki var áberandi. Það sem aðgreindi áreitin var litaafbrigði bláa litarins á veggnum sem fólst í mismunandi samspili birtustigs og litastyrks. Í kjölfar áreitisins birtust þátttakendum spurningar sem snéru annars vegar að trúverðugleika fyrirtækisins, þar sem þrjár víddir trúverðugleika voru mældar með samtals fimmtán atriðum og hins vegar spurningu sem snéri að áformum um viðskipti. Niðurstöðurnar sýndu að trúverðugleiki var skynjaður meiri þegar birtustig var lágt heldur en þegar það var hátt og átti það við bæði þegar litastyrkur var hár og þegar hann var lágur. Sú útfærsla af bláum sem reyndist líklegust til að ýta undir viðskipti var með lágu birtustigi og lágum litastyrk. Út frá niðurstöðunum má því draga þá ályktun að ekki sé nóg að huga að þeim grunnlit sem á að nota sem einkennislit vörumerkis, heldur þurfi að huga að því að rétt útfærsla af litnum, með tilliti til birtustigs og litastyrks, verði fyrir valinu. Slíkt er bæði líklegt til að styðja við þá ímynd sem ætlunin er að ná fram en jafnframt getur það haft bein fjárhagsleg áhrif á fyrirtæki þar sem rétt val á útfærslu getur aukið líkur á viðskiptum.
... Several studies have shown that particularly color saturation of a product's packaging can impact consumer expectations of taste and health (Kunz et al., 2020;Mai et al., 2016;Mead and Richerson, 2018;Tijssen et al., 2017). Nevertheless, research on the combined effects of color saturation on taste and health expectations is limited (Steiner and Florack, 2023). ...
... Findings of other studies suggest that the mechanisms behind color saturation are more complex and that saturation can have opposing effects on health and taste judgments Mead and Richerson, 2018;Tijssen et al., 2017). One explanation is that less saturated colors appear lighter and signal health, but not taste (Steiner and Florack, 2023). ...
... In addition to hue, color saturation affects consumers' perceptions of the health and expected taste of products (Kunz et al., 2020;Mead and Richerson, 2018;Tijssen et al., 2017). Color saturation is a subjective experience, meaning that individuals perceive a highly saturated color as pure or true. ...
Purpose
It is of significant interest to marketers to identify visual product cues that signal high tastiness and healthiness, as both characteristics are of substantial importance to consumers. One such cue is the saturation of the packaging color. However, past studies found diverging effects of packaging color saturation on consumer tastiness and healthiness judgments. In this study, we investigated a possible moderator of the saturation effect: the match between the primary packaging color and the color of the main product ingredient.
Design/methodology/approach
In two online studies, participants viewed pictures of fruit juices (Study 1) and hydration drinks (Study 2). For each product, participants rated the expected taste and healthiness. We manipulated the color saturation and color match of the product pictures.
Findings
When the packaging color matched the main ingredient (e.g. orange juice in an orange package), consumers expected products in normal versus low saturated packages to be healthier and tastier. When the packaging color did not match the color of the main ingredient (e.g. orange juice in a red package), the positive effects of saturation on health and taste were reduced or even disappeared.
Practical implications
The results suggest that managers can optimize product health and taste perceptions by using moderately saturated packaging colors, particularly when the packaging color aligns with the main ingredient’s color.
Originality/value
Our research offers a possible explanation for diverging effects of color saturation on product judgments. We show that whether and to what extend color saturation affects health and taste judgments might depend on the match between the packaging and ingredient color.
... With the growing consumer demand for healthy food, several studies have focused on the impact of packaging elements on consumer health perceptions. For example, studies are focusing on prominent nutritional claims (Hall et al. 2020); studies are showing the impact of colour on health perception, with blue and green (as opposed to red and orange) packaging perceived as healthier when consumers need to make heuristic taste expectations (i.e., not being able to taste the product) (Mead & Richerson 2018;Tijssen et al. 2017), and red packaging stimulates negative health impressions ; some studies have found that health images, nature photographs, and food ingredient images increase mental associations with food products, making them seem healthier and tastier (Eriksson & Machin 2020;Rebollar et al. 2017;Thomas & Capelli 2018), and these specific packaging elements can positively communicate health attributes that may motivate people to make choices (Chandon & Cadario 2023). ...
... At the same time, Bezaz and Kacha (2021) found that of the three dimensions of colour (brightness, chroma and purity), brightness had the most significant impact on children's product preferences, with brighter packaging attracting children's preferences regardless of colour saturation. The differences between the results of the Bezaz andKacha (2021), Marques Da Rosa et al. (2019) and Mead and Richerson (2018)studies revealed that adults and children perceive packaging differently, a possibility that reflects the fact that differences in consumers' experiences and perceptions affect their perception of packaging cues. Moreover, the findings of Marques Da Rosa et al. (2019) are based on Conceptual fluency and Acquired association theory. ...
... However, studies with adults have found that these same elements are more often viewed as tasty but unhealthy. (Mead & Richerson 2018)investigated the heuristic that brightly coloured food packaging equates to an unhealthy heuristic through four experiments. Still, the theoretical foundation is based on learned semantic associations, and the results may not apply to all consumers. ...
... Another stream of literature investigated the influence of other aspects of color beyond hue, such as brightness and saturation. Researchers found that consumers perceive product packages with higher brightness and lower saturation as healthier, e.g., [21,22]. ...
... Light-colored packaging led to higher healthiness perceptions but lower tastiness perceptions and purchase intention. Mead and Richerson [22] were able to replicate these findings, showing across four experiments in different food categories (healthy and unhealthy) and across a variety of hues that consumers associate highly saturated packaging colors with unhealthy foods. ...
... In our review, we mentioned a study by Kunz et al. [5] showing that participants rated drinks as healthier when the saturation of the color on the image was higher. Other research studies found that higher color saturation can also be linked to lower healthiness [22,23]. Taking our path of influences into account, it is important to have a closer look at these effects. ...
When consumers evaluate a new product, packaging design plays a critical role. In particular, packaging color is a dominant design cue that influences consumer perception of a product. Several studies have investigated the influence of color on taste. However, there is limited research on the influence of packaging color on consumer health perception. As healthy eating is a focus for many consumers and public decision-makers, more knowledge is needed. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of empirical studies that have investigated the influence of packaging color on consumers’ health perceptions and to provide a psychological explanation for the observed effects. The systematic review includes 20 empirical studies across different product groups. The results show that packaging color influences consumers’ health perceptions. We argue that the influence of packaging color on consumer health perceptions can be explained by the following mechanisms, which are not mutually exclusive: (1) consumers rely on a color as an explicit signal for health; (2) colors are associated with beliefs that indirectly influence health assessments; and (3) colors trigger mental simulations that influence health assessments. In addition, we provide suggestions for further research that will contribute to a better understanding of when and how packaging color can help consumers make healthier food choices.
... Because such colors capture attention and trigger arousal, many companies market indulgent food in vivid packaging, believing that saturated colors will reduce consumers' ability to resist temptation (Pomirleanu et al., 2020). However, consumers might perceive food products in vivid packaging as unhealthy, especially when they rely on heuristic judgments (Mead & Richerson, 2018). On the opposite end, the usage of low-saturation colors (about 40%) on food packaging might elicit genuineness and authenticity, and thereby prompt favorable reactions such as a higher willingness to pay a premium price (Marozzo et al., 2020). ...
... Consumers tend to associate saturated colors with objects characterized by great magnitude or quantity, such as a larger size (Hagtvedt & Adam Brasel, 2017), a higher amount of calories (Mead & Richerson, 2018), or a sharper taste (Veflen et al., 2023). For this reason, saturated colors generally capture consumers' attention and trigger arousal (Valdez & Mehrabian, 1994). ...
... At the same time, consumers tend to perceive high-saturation colors as more "artificial"-and by comparison, lowsaturation colors seem more "natural" . For this reason, consumers tend to presume that food products presented in vivid packaging (e.g., snacks and vice food products; Kunz et al., 2020;Mead & Richerson, 2018) may negatively affect their health. In more general terms, highly saturated colors are widely considered representative of industrialized cultures (Taylor et al., 2013). ...
Color saturation—the color's purity and intensity (also known as vividness)—is a visual feature that has been under‐investigated in the context of green marketing. To advance knowledge of this topic, we performed five experimental studies to confirm that consumers tend to unconsciously associate low color saturation with a product's “gentler” impact on the environment. This perception of eco‐friendliness, in turn, increases their trust in the product maker's greenness. Our research disentangles the direct and indirect impact (via consumers' perceptions of materials' naturalness, product authenticity, and product durability) of low‐saturation colors on the perceived eco‐friendliness of consumer products. Furthermore, the results reveal that, by fostering perceptions of eco‐friendliness and green trust, such colors favorably influence consumers' behavioral intentions (i.e., their purchase intention and intention to pay a premium price for the product). Ultimately, the paper provides useful insights for companies and marketers interested in leveraging the meaning of color saturation to elicit perceptions of environmental compatibility.
... In addition, some research has shown that people may use visual cues about the color of packages to form their evaluations or preference [5,[17][18][19][20]. Specifcally, Mead and Richerson [19] show that consumers associate dull or light colors with natural, wholesome, and healthier foods, while bright, highly saturated colors are linked to artifcial ingredients or processed food. ...
... In addition, some research has shown that people may use visual cues about the color of packages to form their evaluations or preference [5,[17][18][19][20]. Specifcally, Mead and Richerson [19] show that consumers associate dull or light colors with natural, wholesome, and healthier foods, while bright, highly saturated colors are linked to artifcial ingredients or processed food. Tis bias impacts their purchase decisions and how they perceive product attributes. ...
The present study focuses on how the contagion effect between food products placed on different color backgrounds influences consumer evaluations, through a series of three experiments. The color characteristics are discussed, and contagion theory is used to explicate the underlying process. Across the three studies, color feature plays an important role in a consumer context. Study 1 indicates that consumers feel stronger contagion effects when a source is placed on an expansive color rather than a contractive one. In addition, colors also show their mobile, dynamic, and diverse features. Study 2 shows that the transfer of a product’s quality might be reduced when the source is on a heavy color and the target is on a light color, resulting in stronger contagion effects for consumers. Moreover, Study 3 finds that bright colors lead to stronger positive contagion effects, while dark colors intensify negative contagion effects. The findings of this research suggest that practitioners should not only use contagious stimuli to elicit consumers’ perceptions but they should also place products on different background colors to capture the attention of consumers.
... The role of personal values in healthy food choices can help food managers and health authorities reduce dietary stress and improve mental well-being (Cronin et al., 2015); The digital discourse of health is clustered around four F's, namely, food, fitness, fashion and feelings, which can be categorized with respect to their degrees of representation on a commodification/communification versus bodily/spiritual well-being map (Cavusoglu and Demirbag-Kaplan, 2017); Color elements of food packaging affect consumers' perceptions of food well-being (Mead and Richerson, 2018); Visual perspectives have impact on maintaining a healthy diet and achieving health-related goals (Stornelli et al., 2020); Insurance coverage and options can impact consumers' Perceived Access to Health Services and ultimately, their well-being (Tanner et al., 2020) Voluntary simplifiers refuse to consume items that do not add to their happiness and satisfaction levels (Pangarkar et al., 2021); The potential negative side-effects of the sustainability movement on the well-being of consumers with materialistic values is related to a reduced clarity of consumers' self-concept (Furchheim et al., 2020); Materialistic values and voluntary simplicity (Kuanr et al., 2020); Anti-consumption and well-being theory (Maseeh et al., 2022); Various anti-consumption constructs and consumer empowerment for well-being (Balderjahn et al., 2020). In addition to it, there are other articles that correspond to this context, including Ashraf et al. (2019); Farah and Shahzad (2020) and Oral and Thurner unearthed seven themes in the extant CWB literature, namely, subjective well-being, psychological well-being, food well-being, financial well-being, environmental well-being, social well-being and societal well-being. ...
... At the micro level, a consumer's perception of food healthfulness and food well-being can be affected by the package coloring because vivid packaging is seen as an unhealthful heuristic (Mead and Richerson, 2018). Another aspect of packaging that can influence consumers' food evaluations is labeling; for example, Parker et al. ...
Purpose
Consumer well-being (CWB) is a flourishing area of research. It is an important field of study for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG-3 (Good Health and Well-Being). However, despite some recent reviews, there is a lack of a comprehensive overview of the broad themes emerging in the CWB literature. The study aims to thoroughly integrate and organize the fragmented existing literature on CWB by uncovering its emergent themes and their impact.
Design/methodology/approach
To address this gap, this study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of 166 peer-reviewed journal articles from 2013–2023 following the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews protocol from the Scopus and Web of Science databases.
Findings
This study’s SLR uncovered seven themes: subjective well-being; psychological well-being; food well-being; financial well-being; environmental well-being; social well-being; and societal well-being. Further, this study identifies that these themes impact consumers on three levels: micro, meso and macro. Thus, this study provides a comprehensive overview of the emergent themes along the levels of impact.
Research limitations/implications
This paper anticipates that the study, which is a thorough overview of the CWB literature, will provide managers, academics and students with an introduction to the topic.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first articles that shows the themes of the CWB literature along the respective levels of impact and draws avenues for future research.
... When the research is examined, it can be seen that many studies exist in the literature on compatibility between product and packaging and this can provide important clues for companies with regard to proper and effective packaging. Studies that focus on the harmony between the product and its packaging have shown that the colors used in the packaging affect purchasing behavior (Vanhurley and Lynn, 2007;Bezaz, 2014), increase brand recall and recognition (Bezaz, 2014), predict refresh (Zellner and Durlach, 2002;Wei et al., 2014), and create expectations through various perceptions of the product (Garber et al., 2000;Ares and Deliza, 2010;Mead and Richerson, 2018). Additionally, the images used in the packaging were employed to predict product content (Underwood and Klein, 2002), influence taste perception (Mizutani et al., 2010;Rebollar et al., 2016), and affect the message to be delivered to the consumer (Underwood et al., 2001). ...
... In studies focusing on the harmony between product and packaging elements, the colors used in packaging affect buying behavior (Vanhurley & Lynn, 2007;Bezaz, 2014), increasing the level of brand recognition (Bezaz, 2014), freshness (Zellner & Durlach, 2002;Wei et al., 2014), estimates of flavor (Piqueras & Spence, 2012) and quality (Vanhurley & Lynn, 2007). Moreover, they generate expectations through various perceptions of the product (Garber et al., 2000;Ares & Deliza, 2010;Mead & Richerson, 2018). However, with the implications of the visuals used in packaging with regard to product content (Underwood & Klein, 2002), flavor (Mizutani et al., 2010;Rebollar et al., 2016) and health (Mizutani et al., 2010;Pires & Agente, 2011;Rebollar et al., 2016), it has been found that there are influences on the perception of the messages that are intended to be delivered to the consumer (Underwood et al., 2001). ...
... Finally, to exclude potential alternative mechanisms, we utilized a 7-point Likert scale to measure perceptions of warmth, i.e., "I think this is a warm frame" [85] and "I think this frame is friendly" [86], as well as a familiarity scale regarding the product [87]. In addition, participants completed demographic information and an attention check question (see Appendix A for scales and Appendix B for an overview of experiments). ...
... Perceptions of warmth • I think this is a warm frame [85] • I think this frame is friendly [86] α = 0.716 (Experiment 2) Product familiarity [87] • I see this product all the time when I'm shopping (Experiment 2) The self-construal manipulation measure [90] • What I just thought made me think of myself • What I just thought made me think of my friends/family (Experiment 3) ...
Existing studies have examined unhealthy food packaging information, mainly focusing on aspects such as the content, color, and text, whilst paying less attention to the boundaries of information. This paper investigates unhealthy foods through three experiments, revealing that the presence (vs. absence) of packaging information boundaries on unhealthy foods has a negative impact on consumers’ purchasing intentions (p = 0.040) (Experiment 1). The feeling of constraint mediates this effect (β = −0.078, CI: [−0.1911, −0.0111]) (Experiment 2). Additionally, consumers with an independent self-construal exhibit reduced purchasing intentions when unhealthy food packaging information boundaries are present (vs. absent) (p < 0.001), whereas those with an interdependent self-construal show increased purchasing intentions under the same conditions (p = 0.024) (Experiment 3). This paper reveals the psychological mechanism and boundary conditions of unhealthy food packaging information boundaries affecting consumers’ purchasing intention and provides practical inspiration for government policy-making related to unhealthy food packaging.
... Another plausible explanation for the association between low saturation and higher liking is that the concept of specialty coffees, in addition to the intrinsic cup quality, encompasses extrinsic aspects linked to production and processing, such as sustainability and health (Samoggia & Riedel, 2018;Sepulveda et al., 2016). Less saturated colours have been shown to be associated to functional concepts such as 'healthfulness' (Mead & Richerson, 2018) and 'sustainability', with consumers associating low colour saturation with a product's 'gentler' impact on the environment (Pichierri & Pino, 2023). Thus, in the present study, the low saturation colour of the coffee bags may have been interpreted as a sign of healthfulness and/or environmental compatibility, which is congruent with the overall concept of specialty coffee. ...
... Perceptions of food healthiness are primarily influenced by factors such as nutritional richness, low fat and calorie content, body benefits, and overall health promotion (Mead and Richerson 2018;Ye, Morrin, and Kampfer 2020). According to Rozin (2005), these perceptions are more influenced by the production process than by the food's intrinsic content. ...
Packaging plays a crucial role in shaping individuals’ food choices. This research introduces the “visual complexity‐intervention inference effect” through five primary studies and two supplemental studies spanning diverse food categories. We demonstrate that complex packaging designs, characterized by more decorative elements, signal increased human intervention, which diminishes the perceived healthiness of the packaged food. This perception subsequently leads to decreased consumption, particularly among consumers with heightened health consciousness. The study advances the research on food packaging and design aesthetics, offering insights and recommendations for leveraging packaging design complexity to promote healthier food choices.
... The saturation of packaging color can influence consumers' perceptions of container size, increasing the perceived volume (Hagtvedt & Brasel, 2017). Consumers may view high-saturation packaging as less healthy than low-saturation packaging for the same product (Mead & Richerson, 2018). Color not only affects taste perception but is also linked to functional perceptions. ...
... Second, our article contributes to the literature on cross-modal correspondence (Heatherly et al., 2019;Lick et al., 2017;Spence, 2011;Sugimori & Kawasaki, 2022) and sensory marketing (Mead & Richerson, 2018; for a review on sensory marketing, see Krishna, 2012) by looking at the positive effect of slightly darker rosé colors (a visual cue) on fruity flavor (a multisensory cue) and anticipated taste (a gustatory cue). By doing so, we also shed light on why a Rosé de Provence with a slightly darker color (i.e., peach and melon color shades) trigger more positive consumer responses by indicating fruity flavor and expected tastiness (in that order) as the underlying mechanisms responsible for the relationship between rosé colors and consumer responses. ...
... Among visual attributes of package design, colors Mead and Richerson, 2018), imagery (Huang et al., 2022), glossiness (Briand Decr e and Cloonan, 2019; Ye et al., 2020), typeface (Schroll et al., 2018;Yu et al., 2022), location of elements (Deng and Kahn, 2009;Rettie and Brewer, 2000) and shapes (Chandon, 2013;Raghubir and Greenleaf, 2006) strongly influence consumer impressions and behavior. Specifically, the selection of visually salient elements of package design (e.g. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the influence of a particular label surface texture, i.e. embossing, on consumer purchase intentions and willingness to pay. This paper further highlights the underlying mechanisms explaining this relationship by unveiling the mediating role of willingness to touch and perceived package uniqueness.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the visual salience theory and the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model, this paper tests mediations and serial mediations across two online experiments and evidence from a laboratory experiment.
Findings
Study 1 reveals perceived package uniqueness as the mediator, such that embossed elements on the label increase perceived uniqueness, hence leading to greater purchase intentions and willingness to pay. In addition, Study 2 replicates these results and goes further by demonstrating the positive effect of embossing on purchase intentions and willingness to pay through willingness to touch then perceived package uniqueness.
Practical implications
The findings provide insightful managerial implications by drawing attention to the importance of using embossed elements on packaging, particularly when companies seek to differentiate themselves from competitors by stimulating consumers to touch their product packaging and having them perceive their products as unique.
Originality/value
Using visual salience theory and the SOR model, this research is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first to shed light on the effect of embossing as a visual element of the packaging design on willingness to touch the product (haptics) and perceived uniqueness, ultimately enhancing purchase intentions and willingness to pay.
... For example, white gives an impression of honesty, red gives an impression of excitement, blue gives an impression of competence, black gives an impression of sophistication, and brown gives an impression of ruggedness (Labrecque & Milne, 2012). Lightness and saturation can improve the perceived quality of colors and increase the attractiveness of products (Kunz et al., 2020;Mead & Richerson, 2018;Wilms & Oberfeld, 2018). For example, in an experiment targeting car exterior design, perceived quality was improved by increasing the amount of light reflected (Kato, 2022). ...
... Colour plays a crucial role in determining the strawberries' quality and influencing consumer's purchasing preferences . Normally, vivid, highly saturated colours are often reflective of high nutritional value in the context of fruits and vegetables (Mead & Richerson, 2018). Table 2 outlined the colour parameters L*, a*, and b*of thawed strawberries, representing brightness, redness, and yellowness, respectively. ...
Freezing is a widely used method for preserving fresh strawberries, and selecting appropriate thawing technologies is crucial for obtaining high‐quality thawed strawberries. Radio frequency technology provides a promising method owing to its expeditious uniform heating mode with substantial penetration depth. This study investigated the effects of radio frequency thawing (RFT) using electrode gaps of 12, 14, or 16 cm on the quality attributes of frozen strawberries, comparing them with refrigerator thawing (RT) and microwave thawing (MWT). The results illustrated that strawberries thawed by RFT exhibited significantly lower firmness loss and higher levels of anthocyanins and ascorbic acid compared to RT and MWT methods. Specifically, strawberries thawed with a 12‐cm electrode gap under RFT showed faster thawing rates, increased phenolic content, and enhanced antioxidant activity. Overall, radio frequency technology shows great potential in enhancing the quality of thawed strawberries.
... Many previous studies have shown that the color of packaging plays an important role in the evaluation of a product (Mead & Richerson, 2018;Seo & Scammon, 2017). The increasing number of products on the market makes the appearance of product packaging significantly important in building consumers' perceptions and actual experiences. ...
Global warming that has occurred lately is still an issue that is often heard by the public. Company's awareness of the importance of social responsibility and attention to the environment has become an important topic to be studied. The gap between high consumer awareness and the popularity of green products towards actual purchasing interest and behavior becomes an interesting research topic. Many previous studies have identified the reasons for this phenomenon due to the lack of comfort, lack of knowledge, lack of trust, and various risk perceptions. Therefore, the aim for this research is to understand and uncover the relationship between Green Marketing (Green Product, Green Packaging, and Green Advertising) with Brand Love by using Aqua Life product as the object of this research. Data collection used in this research is questionnaire as primary data, and the internet and journal articles related to the research title for additional data and references. The population used in this study is consumers who have purchased AQUA Life products in DKI Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, and Bekasi. The sample size is 176 where all of the samples are consumers of Aqua Life. In conclusion, out of the three independent variables (Green Product, Green Advertisement, Green Packaging), Green Advertisement and Green Packaging proved to have significant relationship with Brand Love and Green Product has no significant relationship on Brand Love. Furthermore, it is known from his research that Green Advertisement has a greater influence on Brand Love compared to Green Packaging. This study provides new insights from previous research that showed that green marketing and green packaging can increase brand love, but not all green marketing strategies are equally effective, and the findings help marketers and business enterprises to better understand customer behavior towards Green Products attitude and to create better marketing strategy. Keywords: Brand Love; Green Advertising; Green Packaging; Green Products; Sustainable Marketing
... We can contextualize these associations and sensory reactions by drawing on the experimental literature on saturation use in consumer packaging: while highly saturated colors are often used to market children's toys and products, lower saturated colors (such as pastels) are often marketed to adults-the former capturing attention, and being associated with novelty and fun, but not necessarily quality or durability, whereas the latter is perceived as more mature, high-quality and long-lasting (Scott and Vargas 2007;Labrecque et al. 2013). There is also evidence of similar associations when it comes to food packaging: higher levels of saturation are associated with junk/snack food, and thus perceived as unhealthy and of lower quality, whereas lower saturation packaging is perceived as healthy and of higher quality (Mead and Richerson 2018;Tijssen et al. 2017). ...
Populist radical right (PRR) parties tend to stress their differences from other parties. Yet at the same time, PRR parties have increasingly sought to integrate into party systems across the globe. In seeking to understand the way that PRR parties negotiate this paradoxical situation, the literature tends to focus on their policy offerings or discourse. We, on the contrary, investigate an underestimated aspect of their political communication: their visuals. Namely, we focus on the question of if and how PRR parties communicate their similarities or differences from other parties via the color profiles of their logos, given that color is a key way that political parties can signal (a) their ideological commitments (via hue) and (b) their approach to “valence” considerations (via saturation). We expect PRR parties’ attempts to signal their integration into party systems to be mainly sought via saturation, as a proxy for valence perceptions related to parties’ seriousness and competence, while we expect them to signal their difference from other parties via hue, given the incentive for PRR parties to communicate their ideological distance from non-populist parties as a marker of distinctiveness in the political market. We test our research questions by analyzing parties’ logos across 35 democracies in recent elections. Results largely confirm our expectations, demonstrating the utility of focusing on the visual aspects of PRR parties’ political communication. Interestingly, the results do not replicate if we focus on populist parties beyond the PRR party family.
... Colors that are vivid and harmony saturated are frequently used in branding and package design because they are seen as stimulating and enticing (Mead & Richerson, 2018). Currently, goods packaging must convey both the material and immaterial ...
The coffee industry is an interesting major in the economic aspects, which can present
one of the huge industries on earth, regarding this the packaging of these products is a
complete separated process which requires a certain suitable design. This study has
focused on the main coffee packaging aspects such as the color, material used,
typography, and graphics of these packs regarding three coffee types. As this study
research has taken place within the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC), among
several local packs a set of twenty-three local coffee packs have been collected in
regards for the study, as well as sixteen imported coffee packs have been also
intergrading. The study methodology based on an observation study method an
assessment table has been implemented to have an observation of the study, as well as
two sets of online artificial intelligence tools have been involved to generate the color
pallet of each select coffee pack in the study, even the second online two was an AI
tool that generated and reads the used font type. A comparison has been addressed to
this study, Turkish coffee, Filtered Coffee and Espresso coffee types were integrated
at the base of locally and Imported coffee packs. The study shows simple approaches
were integrated within the imported coffee packs regarding the color and packaging
aspects, while local coffee packs showed a good representation expect for the usage of
for set of fonts and attract graphics were integrated as well the imported coffee used a
cartoon-based material while the local coffee packs concentrated on the materialized
film packs.
Keywords: Coffee, Coffee Packaging, Imported Coffee Packages, Local Coffee
Packages, Local Coffee Packages.
... Prior research has acknowledged the influence of product packaging on consumer expectations (14) and experiences (15). However, limited research exists on the effect of packaging color (cool vs. warm tones) and various food types on consumer purchasing decisions. ...
Packaging color entices and influences consumer perceptions and significantly affects the identification of products. Marketers manipulate the exterior packaging to influence consumer expectations, experiences, and behaviors. Building upon psychological literature on colors and emotions, we explored the influence of food packaging color and food type on consumers’ purchase intentions. Study 1 explored the interaction effects between food packaging color (warm vs. cold) and food type (vice foods vs. virtue foods) on consumers’ purchase intentions. Study 2 examined whether perceived fluency mediates the interaction effect of food packaging color and food type on consumers’ purchase intentions. The results showed that for vice foods, characterized by tastiness but unhealthiness, the utilization of warm-colored food packaging enhances consumer purchase intent. In contrast, for virtue foods that are healthful but lack gustatory appeal, the use of cold food packaging colors will lead to higher consumer purchase intent. Perceived fluency mediates the interaction effect of food packaging color and food type on consumers’ purchase intentions. This study will assist marketers to exploring a range of possibilities for packing color, impacting both the physiological and cognitive dimensions of consumer behavior related to food products, and offering practical implications for market managers.
... With the current research, we contribute to the consumer behavior literature in four ways. First, and foremost, we contribute to research on the impact of basic visual package design features on consumer responses to brands and products (Homburg et al., 2015;Krider et al., 2001;Krishna, 2013;Mead & Richerson, 2018;Raghubir & Greenleaf, 2006;Schlosser et al., 2016). We extend this line of research by introducing one such specific feature, the oblique effect in music album cover artwork, and examine its impact on consumer judgment and choice, both at the individual and at the market level. ...
In three studies, we examine the effect of music album artwork on album market performance and music consumption. Based on the perceptual preference for visual stimuli with cardinal (orthogonal) over oblique (tilted) line/edge orientations (a phenomenon known as the “oblique effect”), albums with a predominance of cardinal line/edge orientations in their artwork should perform better than albums with more oblique artwork, as indicated by the albums' market performance and consumers' listening behavior. Study 1, using secondary data, shows that the cardinality of album artwork is a positive predictor of the cover's esthetic appeal and of market performance as evinced by its position in the US charts, expert ratings of the album, and the number of weeks the album remained in the US charts. Studies 2 and 3 use experiments to show that consumers listen longer to music when album artwork is relatively more cardinal than oblique. These studies also explore whether the effect is mediated by higher esthetic appreciation of cardinal (vs. oblique) album artwork in turn affecting song liking. Overall, these findings underscore the importance of visual preferences in packaging design for music consumption.
... Although this approach resulted in variants that were "globally" more complex or less complex, such a holistic approach disregards the respective impacts associated with the different graphic elements. For example, a large body of research has shown how packaging colors or shapes can themselves greatly influence consumers' attitudes (e.g., Barchiesi et al., 2018;Labrecque & Milne, 2012;Mai et al., 2016;Mead & Richerson, 2018;Spence & Velasco, 2018). Therefore, manipulating the degree of complexity of a stimulus by completely changing all its constitutive elements can hardly disentangle the effect resulting from the degree of global complexity from any effects resulting from specific graphic elements. ...
Previous studies have documented the decisive impact of various product design elements on consumers' attitudes and decisions. However, research is missing on the impact of visual complexity. Using four studies that consider wine and perfume products, the present research manipulates visual complexity by focusing on the degree of elaborateness of front‐pack images. Using an affective priming task as an implicit technique, more positive automatically activated affective responses are shown for lower complexity designs (Study 1), in line with a processing‐fluency account. However, explicit measures show that higher complexity is associated with greater product evaluations (regarding esthetics, quality, prestige, trustworthiness, acceptable price, and purchase intention; Studies 2 and 3). In addition, more pronounced effects emerge for participants with higher sensitivity to design (Study 3). Finally, using an alternative implicit technique that does not involve very brief presentations of the products (implicit association test (IAT); Study 4), the association between higher complexity and product evaluation is also found under conditions of automaticity. Overall, this research provides insights into the diverging affective and cognitive effects of visual complexity. It suggests that the positive effect of lower complexity through higher processing fluency is restricted to responses that are affective and generated under conditions of automaticity that involve particularly low‐level processes. It also suggests that priming techniques based on very short presentations of the products' visuals may be unsuitable for examining responses to fairly complex concepts such as consumer products. On the whole, this research emphasizes that design complexity should receive more attention from consumer researchers and marketers.
... Packaging is a crucial promotional tool in marketing communications, shaping consumers' perceptions and aiding them in choosing a wide range of goods (Rundh, 2005;Wells et al., 2007;Chandon, 2012). Current research on packaging mainly focuses on three areas: exploring its characteristics and functions (Underwood, 2003), investigating the influence of packaging on consumers' purchase behaviour (Mead & Richerson, 2018), and examining the cross-integration of packaging (Wagner, 2013;Fenko et al., 2016). ...
Organic food enjoys widespread popularity; however, there are numerous factors influencing our purchasing decisions in this regard. Among these factors, packaging stands as a significantly salient determinant. While numerous studies have examined various aspects of organic food packaging, such as design, materials, and size, the impact of packaging transparency has received relatively less attention. Consequently, this research explores the Influence of transparency in organic food packaging on consumers' purchase intentions. The findings from two experiments illustrate that transparency in organic food packaging significantly impacts consumers' purchase intentions. Specifically, organic food with transparent packaging (vs. opaque) increases consumers' purchase intentions, with green perceived value (GPV) playing an intermediary role (Experiment 1). Additionally, consumers' self‐construal, which relates to their sense of individuality or interconnectedness with others, moderates the Influence of packaging transparency on their purchase intentions; for individuals with an independent self‐construal, organic food with transparent packaging increases their purchasing intentions. On the other hand, individuals with an interdependent self‐construal show higher purchase intentions for organic food with opaque packaging than transparent packaging (Experiment 2). These findings shed light on the psychological mechanisms and contextual factors determining how organic food packaging transparency affects consumers' purchasing intentions. They also offer practical implications for companies in terms of designing packaging transparency and other aspects of organic food packaging.
... In the context of packaged goods, color is known to influence both consumer behavior, and attitude formation (Aslam, 2006;Spence & Velasco, 2018). Hence, color is a tool that can be used by marketers to visually communicate with category buyers, as packaging color can both attract attention and ascribe meaning (Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2014;Mead & Richerson, 2018). ...
Line Extensions are among the most common form of product launch in packaged goods markets. As part of this process, brand managers must decide the visual design of the new variant’s packaging. To inform this decision making, this research aims to empirically quantify the efficacy of using colors versus images as signals of product variety on pack. We compare the use of color on 576 packs with perceptions of 1,853 category buyers across three categories in the USA. We find that for 84% of variant types, marketers use common colors to signal variety on pack, while consumers perceive that only 56% of variant types are represented by a particular color. Of greater concern, the colors used in practice and those expected by consumers align in only 16% of cases. By comparison, images are linked to variant types to a significantly greater extent (39% of cases). This suggests images are a stronger and more explicit signal of product variety than color. There are multiple implications arising from this study. It expands scholarly research on the use of colors in product extensions and, at the same time, provides a series of valuable benchmarks for industry practice in the portfolio management domain.
... A similar association applies for color saturation, where less saturated (vs. highly saturated) colors are linked to perceptions of healthiness (Mead & Richerson, 2018). ...
... A similar association applies for color saturation, where less saturated (vs. highly saturated) colors are linked to perceptions of healthiness (Mead & Richerson, 2018). ...
After more than 40 years of research on the use of music in retail environments, researchers agree that music has positive effects at the POS. A meta-analytic review of 25 studies covering a range of different types of music has shown that music has a positive influence on consumers’ shopping experience and buying behavior. Indeed, marketing practice has long recognized this effect and taken advantage of it. Not surprisingly, music has become one of the most frequently used stimuli in the atmospheric design of retail environments. This is not only due to music’s potential to elicit favorable consumer responses, but also because it is relatively easy and inexpensive to implement in retail environments.
... A similar association applies for color saturation, where less saturated (vs. highly saturated) colors are linked to perceptions of healthiness (Mead & Richerson, 2018). ...
The previous chapters described the relevance and impact of individual sensory stimuli on consumer behavior. In retail, however, the reality is considerably more complex. Consumers inevitably perceive retail environments and products in a multisensory way (i.e., simultaneously with all their senses). Thus, the presence of one sensory stimulus (e.g., scent) can influence how consumers react to another stimulus (e.g., music). Specifically, stimuli that appeal to different sensory modalities reinforce or complement one another, thereby influencing the perception and evaluation of the retail environment, the retailer, individual products, or even brands. Combining a scent with specific background music can, for example, lead to an enhanced shopping experience compared to using scent or music in isolation. In general, a multisensory approach has stronger effects on consumers than simply adding other stimuli appealing to the same sensory modality.
... A similar association applies for color saturation, where less saturated (vs. highly saturated) colors are linked to perceptions of healthiness (Mead & Richerson, 2018). ...
If brick-and-mortar retail were a company stock, most analysts would probably recommend that investors should sell it. Currently, improved online shop systems, faster logistics, and a generation of consumers who spend a significant amount of their time online are all driving the increasing share of online purchases. This also holds for products that managers long assumed would be exclusively sold in stationary retail stores. The consequences are obvious in many cities: Empty city centers and vanishing retail stores increasingly characterize the urban landscape. Lockdowns due to Covid-19 fueled this development. Consumers who were initially skeptical about online retail were ultimately almost forced to “just give it a try.” And—lo and behold—they soon discovered that even buying products such as clothing and shoes online is not too difficult. While researchers and practitioners are still debating whether these pandemic-related effects on consumer behavior are permanent, next generation technologies like augmented reality (AR), the metaverse, and other technological innovations are fueling online retailing even further.
... A similar association applies for color saturation, where less saturated (vs. highly saturated) colors are linked to perceptions of healthiness (Mead & Richerson, 2018). ...
You have probably often entered a room and immediately noticed a typical scent. The targeted use of scents has long since ceased to be an exception. Companies like Abercrombie & Fitch, Motel One, and Singapore Airlines routinely use ambient scents in their sales and service environments. In doing so, the companies pursue two primary goals. On the one hand, the use of ambient scents is intended to create a pleasant atmosphere. On the other hand, their use aims at communicating a distinctive and likeable brand identity.
... The matching of package color and brand personality increases purchase intention [12]. Consumers perceive foods packaged in highly saturated colors as less healthy than those packaged in less saturated colors [13,14]. Although color has been studied in many fields such as branding and food, few scholars have studied whether the package color of probabilistic goods have an effect on consumers. ...
Probabilistic goods are unique products or services that consumers obtain from sellers at a discounted price for any one of different goods. They are also common in everyday life, such as blind boxes and lucky bags. However, there are still many consumers unwilling to pay for them, and the current research on probabilistic goods fails to reveal the mechanism behind it, and cannot solve the marketing problem well. In this regard, based on construal-level theory, three empirical studies were conducted to investigate the effect of package color saturation of probabilistic goods on consumers’ purchase intention. The study found that compared with low saturation, high saturation packaging can significantly increase consumers’ purchase intention, which is mediated by subjective probability and moderated by transaction utility. Specifically, in the context of low transaction utility, the higher the saturation, the stronger the consumers’ purchase intention; in the context of high transaction utility, the effect of saturation is not significant. The conclusion of this paper expands the research on the visual effect of probabilistic goods packaging, and provides theoretical basis and practical guidance for marketers to consider probabilistic goods packaging design.
... In their studies, Mead & Richerson (2018) reported that consumers perceived a nutritional bar as less healthy when presented in bright packaging and with greater color saturation than when presented in silenced packaging with lower color saturation. Tijssen et al. (2017) investigated the effects of packaging color on the perception of healthiness and attractiveness, both in sugar-reduced and fat-reduced products, and found that using less vibrant and watery colors is more strongly associated with 'healthiness' rather than 'attractiveness.' ...
Abstract In addition to preserving the goods, packaging captures potential buyers' attention, provides information about product benefits, changes consumer beliefs, and increases the chances of a sale. Thus, this review aimed to provide information on the impact of color perception on food packaging by consumers. Using color on packaging results in product differentiation, increasing the advantage over others and building sales loyalty and emotional connections. Besides the product color, the colors of its packaging can play an essential role in the perception of product taste, as people tend to create associations of specific colors with specific products and associations with particular tastes.
Many consumers today pursue health goals to adopt healthier behaviors, and interest in promoting healthy eating habits in gastronomy is growing. Empirical evidence demonstrates that sensory cues (e.g., food color, food shapes, and background music) influence healthy eating behavior. However, the theoretical understanding of how sensory cues shape healthy food choices remains unclear. Specifically, this study develops the sensory–healthy eating model, a theoretical framework that explains how and when sensory cues influence healthy eating behavior (e.g., food choices and intake). By integrating related theories and empirical findings across interdisciplinary fields, we identify which sensory cues shape healthy eating and the psychological processes through which they operate. The theoretical model proposes that (1) sensory cues evoke cognitive (higher evaluation, lower potency, lower activity) and/or affective responses (positive valence, lower arousal), (2) these responses shape the perceived healthiness of foods based on their characteristics and quantity, and (3) the influence of perceived food healthiness on healthy eating behavior is stronger for consumers with health goals or motives. Our model provides a valuable framework for researchers and practitioners in marketing, food science, and gastronomy to promote healthy eating behavior.
People largely perceive their environment visually and visual impressions are often available before those of the other senses. Therefore, how retail environments are visually designed is an important driver of retailers’ success by guiding consumer behavior and contributing to a generally pleasant atmosphere. Eye-catching designs can draw attention and unique design concepts can communicate a brand’s image. Popular examples are the Hans im Glück restaurant chain and the Apple Stores with their brand-specific visual concepts. Many retailers also make use of social media-ready visual design elements and, for example, house selfie walls or even design “instagrammable” structures such as Bikini Mall Berlin, which installed a wall of plants and flowers with a swing in front that not only allowed visitors to take pretty pictures but also staged brands. In this chapter, we explore how visual design elements such as lighting, color, and product arrangements affect consumer behavior. We provide guidance on how to integrate visual design elements in stores and also discuss the role of in-store technologies in shaping customer experiences.
Purpose
This study aims to explore consumers’ perspectives on how packaging plays a role in their consumption experience and how it contributes to the formation of brand images. By adopting a consumer’s perspective, the authors identify the criteria that consumers apply to evaluate packaging and reveal how packaging relates to consumers’ overall brand associations.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a sequential exploratory mixed methods design, the authors explore brand packaging of chocolate bars as emotionally laden, well-known fast-moving consumer goods. First, the authors conduct a qualitative focus group study to explore how consumers perceive package design, and how it relates to their brand impressions. Second, the authors test the constructs and attributes with an independent sample through a quantitative survey.
Findings
The qualitative findings reveal the different roles of packaging and highlight how packaging provides value for consumer experiences not only at the point-of-sale but also during later consumption. More specifically, the authors identify 12 main criteria that consumers use to evaluate packaging. The authors unwrap how packaging is embedded in consumers’ brand image networks by mapping out its connections to other brand associations pertaining to product attributes, the brand itself and personality impressions. The quantitative findings confirm the importance of practical and symbolic packaging criteria and the brand image comparisons.
Originality/value
Taking a consumer’s perspective, this study contributes to a more holistic understanding of how packaging supports brand building as we reveal the various ways in which packaging relates to consumers’ overall brand image associations. This study further directs attention to the roles that consumers themselves assign to packaging and how they evaluate packaging based on its practical, symbolic and social value.
Consumers use observable cues, like color, to help them evaluate products. This research establishes that consumers infer greater product efficacy from higher color saturation across seven lab experiments (n = 2,745), a web scraping study, and a field experiment. The studies provide evidence that this belief stems from learned associations between color saturation and potency and is applied to both consumable and durable products. Moreover, consumers overgeneralize this intuition beyond a product’s actual color to a product’s packaging color and the background color used in its advertisements. Two studies support the proposed process with evidence via moderation, while another study identifies consumption goal as a boundary condition, such that high saturation decreases perceived efficacy and purchase intent when consumers search for a gentle (vs. strong) product. The effect is not limited to pre-purchase perceptions but also influences perceptions after actual product use. The effect is established across six hues while holding color lightness constant and has multiple downstream consequences, including purchase intent and consumption amount. The findings have implications for marketers who make product design choices like color choices for products, their packaging, and advertisements, and in instances where consumers may be harmed from underuse or overuse.
En este artículo se ahonda en diversos aspectos del proceso de internacionalización de las empresas en el actual mundo globalizado y dinámico. Para ello se siguió la metodología prisma, diseñando una ecuación de búsqueda para las bases de datos Web of Science y Scopus, 83 artículos fueron incluidos en este análisis. Los resultados permiten identificar como factores que motivan la internacionalización: la visión y ambición de los empresarios, el conocimiento y las capacidades internas de marketing e innovación, y factores externos de tipo económico, político y cultural. También se identifica que las mejores prácticas adoptadas por las empresas para ingresar a mercados internacionales están relacionas con fusiones y adquisiciones transfronterizas, formación de alianzas estratégicas, exportación e inversión en el exterior. Además, se reconocen como resultados de la internacionalización: la mejora de la ventaja competitiva, el crecimiento económico y un mejor desempeño corporativo. El estudio concluye que la internacionalización es vital para la competitividad y el crecimiento de las PYMES, permitiéndoles mejorar su ventaja competitiva, acceder a nuevos recursos y mercados, y diversificar riesgos. También identifica como desafíos significativos, los costos elevados de estos procesos y las barreras culturales y administrativas.
Many tourist destinations and hospitality companies are using the idea of “naturalness” to attract consumers in the post‐pandemic era. The current research explores the impact of color, a fundamental element in tourism marketing materials, on shaping tourists' perceptions of naturalness and subsequent purchase intention. Through three experimental studies, our research reveals a lay belief that associates color saturation with naturalness perception. While prior research has indicated that highly saturated colors can positively impact consumers, our findings suggest that this effect may not always hold. Specifically, low color saturation in tourism marketing materials increased tourists' perceptions of naturalness and purchase intentions. These findings contribute to the theoretical development of color psychology and support the development of sustainable tourism and hospitality practices that prioritize managing natural resources.
The current research examines when and how product-background color combinations (analogous vs. complementary) influence consumers' perception of brand innovativeness. Across four studies, the authors find that analogous combinations lead to higher perceptions of brand innovativeness compared to complementary combinations. The effect occurs because analogous combinations are more difficult to process and, thus, result in higher perceptions of brand innovativeness. However, this effect is reduced for those familiar with the target brand. Importantly, by enhancing perceptions of brand innovativeness, analogous combinations can positively or negatively influence consumers’ purchase intentions, depending on their self-construal. Our findings provide valuable insights for both theory and marketing practice.
Gıda maddesinin pazardaki yerini belirleyen gıda ambalajı tüketici davranışını anlık etkileme potansiyeline de sahiptir. Ambalajın hangi materyalden üretildiği, rengi, ergonomik olup olmaması, geri dönüşüm özellikleri, doğal materyallerden üretilip üretilmediği ya da sağlık açısından fonksiyonel özelliğe sahip olup olmaması gibi faktörler satın alma sırasında tüketici tutum ve davranışında farklı yaklaşımlara sebep olabilir. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Malatya ilinde tüketici satın alma kararında gıda ambalajının etkisi incelenmiştir. Araştırma için Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi Etik Kurulundan 25.08.2022 tarih/ E-84026528-050.01.04-2200193039 sayılı kararı ile gerekli izin alınmıştır. Araştırmaya göre; yaş ve cinsiyet ile anket puanları arasındaki fark anlamlı değildir (p>0.05). Katılımcıların; eğitim ve gelir durumları ile tüketici satın alma kararında gıda ambalajının etkisi anketi toplam puan ortancaları arasındaki fark ise istatistiksel olarak anlamlıdır (p
Existing studies on branding and value creation focus primarily on established brands and luxury products, with less attention paid to small and medium enterprise (SME) food souvenir products. Additionally, most studies are grounded in business, marketing, psychology, and health sciences. This study attempts to fill the gaps by enhancing understanding of the functional and emotional value of colour in food souvenir packaging from a design standpoint. Using multiple case studies, the present research intends to assess the role of colours in branding and value creation for SME food packaging in Bandung, Indonesia. The research design was comparative research. Using Microsoft Excel, the analysis was image-based descriptive and qualitative within-case and cross-case analysis based on visual perception parameters. Using common colours is advantageous for brand identification, while using uncommon colours can enhance brand visibility. In other words, common and unique colours are part of food packaging branding and value creation. The psychology of colour also influences values such as tastiness, healthiness, good quality, attractiveness, and others. This study contributes to the design literature by demonstrating that the designer may serve as a value creator in the packaging design process through colour.
People largely perceive their environment visually. Visual impressions are often available before those of the other senses, for example, due to the fact that one may be outside the range of acoustic or olfactory signals. Therefore, how retail environments are visually designed is an important driver of retailers’ success by guiding consumer behavior and contributing to a generally pleasant atmosphere. Eye-catching designs can draw attention and unique design concepts can communicate a brand’s image. Popular examples are the Hans im Glück restaurant chain and the Apple Stores with their brand-specific visual concepts. Apart from a visual representation of the brand, retailers can further use in-store design elements like secondary placements at the point of sale (POS) and colored (price) tags to direct customers’ in-store shopping route and draw attention to specific offers.
The current research examines how the vividness of food depictions affects consumers' consumption expectations of indulgent food items. Through three studies, we found that the level of motivation to be healthy plays a crucial role in determining how vividness impacts their consumption expectations of indulgent food items. Specifically, when consumers are less motivated to be healthy, vividness increases their consumption expectations due to increased attention‐driven involvement with the food information. On the other hand, when consumers are motivated to be healthy, vividness is assumed to increase goal conflict, leading to reduced consumption expectations. Importantly, our research also found that the joint effect of vividness and health motivations on consumption expectations is attenuated when the indulgent food items contain healthy ingredients.
Experienced ease of recall was found to qualify the implications of recalled content. Ss who had to recall 12 examples of assertive (unassertive) behaviors, which was difficult, rated themselves as less assertive (less unassertive) than subjects who had to recall 6 examples, which was easy. In fact, Ss reported higher assertiveness after recalling 12 unassertive rather than 12 assertive behaviors. Thus, self-assessments only reflected the implications of recalled content if recall was easy. The impact of ease of recall was eliminated when its informational value was discredited by a misattribution manipulation. The informative functions of subjective experiences are discussed.
In the context of food product marketing, this paper is one of the few academic research studies that examine the effect of package color on consumers’ inference on intrinsic product attributes. In a within-subject experimental study, 40 participants rate sweetness and healthiness of 12 food products contained in red, green and blue packages. The results demonstrate that red packaged products are perceived to be sweeter, whereas products packaged in green and blue are associated with the perception of healthiness. In terms of individual differences, external eaters, whose eating behavior is primarily triggered by external hedonic cues, are particularly sensitive to the effect of red package on sweetness taste and healthiness inference. The managerial applications of the consumer’s cognitive-behavioral responses to the package color strategy and future research are discussed as well.
Considering the difference between hedonic and utilitarian products, this article presents how the choice of color in food packaging, along with the nutrition content claim (NCC) labeling, can influence the consumer’s perception of food healthiness and purchase intention. The responses of 120 non-color-blind and non-obese college students from two within-subject experiments were analyzed by adopting a mixed model for repeated measurement. The results suggest that utilitarian, but not hedonic, food products in blue-colored packages were perceived to be healthier than those in red-colored packages. The perception of food healthiness, which was sensitive to the package color, also influenced the purchase intention of packaged foods. Moreover, when the NCC label was presented, food in a blue package with health claims in the NCC (e.g., “light” label) was perceived healthier than food in a red package with regular labels. This article also discusses the managerial implications of the findings for packaging and advertising professionals.
This paper examines the impact of consumer confusion on nutrition knowledge, literacy, and dietary behavior. While previous research largely focuses on understanding why consumers might not respond to healthy eating communications, this paper seeks to uncover the various behavioral responses to such campaigns, particularly those that contravene health communication objectives. Using an interpretive methodology, findings suggest that most participants do respond to health communications by striving to eat healthily, but inadequate nutrition information derived from unreliable sources, flawed baseline nutrition knowledge, and poor nutrition literacy hinder participants’ efforts. Inconsistent, incomplete, and contradictory information leaves many participants feeling confused about how to implement healthy eating habits. Further, a lack of ability to differentiate between credible and unreliable sources of nutrition information means that many participants blame their confusion on policymakers, and express frustration and cynicism toward vague and often contradictory communications. This, in turn, increases participants’ reliance on food adverts, product labels, and other commercial sources of ambiguous yet appealing information. The paper's theoretical contribution includes a consumer confusion framework for healthy eating, and policy implications highlight that health campaigns seeking to increase consumer awareness of healthy eating are not enough. Policymakers must become the most credible sources of information about healthy eating, and distinguish themselves from competing and unreliable sources of nutrition information. Full text available at http://oro.open.ac.uk/50015/
This article investigates whether traffic light color-coded nutrition information helps low- (vs. high-) self-control consumers make more healthful food choices within a given product category. Two in-store lab studies assess the effects of traffic light colors. The colors indicate low (green), medium (amber), and high (red) levels of four negative food nutrients (sugar, fat, saturated fat, and salt). The color-coding was implemented on nutrition labeling schemes shown on the front of actual food packages (pasta meals in Study 1; cereal bars in Study 2). Consumers with low self-control to resist food temptations, but not those with high self-control, make more healthful food choices in response to the color-coded labeling. The behavior is congruent with their long-term goals of controlling their food choices and is evident when traffic light colors vary between both nutrients and products (Study 1) and when traffic light colors vary between nutrients but not products (Study 2). The authors derive theoretical implications and draw conclusions from the perspectives of public policy, retailing, and manufacturers.
This chapter outlines the two basic routes to persuasion. One route is based on the thoughtful consideration of arguments central to the issue, whereas the other is based on the affective associations or simple inferences tied to peripheral cues in the persuasion context. This chapter discusses a wide variety of variables that proved instrumental in affecting the elaboration likelihood, and thus the route to persuasion. One of the basic postulates of the Elaboration Likelihood Model—that variables may affect persuasion by increasing or decreasing scrutiny of message arguments—has been highly useful in accounting for the effects of a seemingly diverse list of variables. The reviewers of the attitude change literature have been disappointed with the many conflicting effects observed, even for ostensibly simple variables. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) attempts to place these many conflicting results and theories under one conceptual umbrella by specifying the major processes underlying persuasion and indicating the way many of the traditionally studied variables and theories relate to these basic processes. The ELM may prove useful in providing a guiding set of postulates from which to interpret previous work and in suggesting new hypotheses to be explored in future research.
Copyright © 1986 Academic Press Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The fact of having already encountered something encourages future preference, a phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect (MEE). There is a widely accepted view that recognition inhibits the MEE. Here this view is contested and the generality of the findings upon which it is based questioned. New evidence is presented from a systematic investigation of the moderating influence of recognition memory on the MEE, using brand logo stimuli and methods that make the results directly applicable to marketing practice. It is shown that recognition, whether correct or mistaken, enhances, rather than inhibits, the likelihood of preference.
Studied the influence of internal and external cues on behavior of 80 obese and normal undergraduates in a 2 * 2 * 2 factorial design with 2 levels of weight (obese and normal), 2 levels of stomach condition (empty and full), and 2 levels of external stimuli (food and nonfood). Obese Ss were more reactive than normals to external cues as indicated by their eating more and intending to buy more food after viewing food slides as opposed to scenery slides. However, their behavior also changed in response to food deprivation, becoming more negative. The obese Ss showed lower food consumption, lower buying intentions, and lower ratings of both food and nonfood slides in the empty condition compared to the full condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The authors develop a conceptual model of how the congruence of political ideology and persuasive appeals enhances sustainable behaviors. In study 1, persuasive appeals consistent with individualizing and binding moral foundations were developed to enhance liberal and conservative recycling. In study 2, individualizing and binding appeals were tested on actual recycling behavior using a longitudinal field study to demonstrate the effectiveness of messages congruent with the moral foundations of liberals and conservatives. Study 3 demonstrated that enhanced fluency represents the underlying psychological process that mediates the relationship between message congruence and intentions. Moreover, study 3 established that spillover effects resulting from increased intentions to engage in sustainable disposition behavior enhance intentions to engage in sustainable acquisition and consumption behaviors. Finally, study 4 ruled out potential message confounds to demonstrate the robustness of the findings. Practical implications for marketers and public policy officials interested in increasing sustainable behaviors are offered.
It is common for authors discovering a significant interaction of a measured variable X with a manipulated variable Z to examine simple effects of Z at different levels of X. These “spotlight” tests are often misunderstood even in the simplest cases, and it appears that consumer researchers are unsure how to extend them to more complex designs. We explain the general principles of spotlight tests, show that they rely on familiar regression techniques, and provide a tutorial showing how to apply these tests across an array of experimental designs. Rather than following the common practice of reporting spotlight tests at one standard deviation above and below the mean of X, we recommend that when X has focal values, researchers report spotlight tests at those focal values. When X does not have focal values, we recommend researchers report ranges of significance using a version of Johnson and Neyman’s (1936) test we call a “floodlight”.
Conducted lexical decision and pronunciation experiments, using a total of 140 university students, to investigate whether activation automatically spreads beyond directly associated concepts within the memory network. Prime-target pairs were constructed such that there was a relation between the prime (e.g., lion) and the target (e.g., stripes) only through a mediating concept (e.g., tiger). The lexical decision results yielded facilitation of directly related priming conditions (e.g., lion–tiger and tiger–stripes); however, the mediated condition (e.g., lion–stripes) did not facilitate performance compared with either a neutral prime or an unrelated prime condition. In contrast, the pronunciation results yielded facilitation of both directly related and mediated priming conditions. Results are viewed as supporting the notion that activation spreads beyond directly related concepts in semantic memory. It is suggested that characteristics of the lexical decision task masked the appearance of a mediated priming effect. Implications of an automatic spread of activation beyond directly related concepts are discussed. The stimulus triads used are appended. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Feelings of familiarity are not direct products of memory. Although prior experience of a stimulus can produce a feeling of familiarity, that feeling can also be aroused in the absence of prior experience if perceptual processing of the stimulus is fluent (e.g., B. W. Whittlesea et al, 1990). This suggests that feelings of familiarity arise through an unconscious inference about the source of processing fluency. The present experiments extend that conclusion. First, they show that a wide variety of feelings about the past are controlled by a fluency heuristic, including feelings about the meaning, pleasantness, duration, and recency of past events. Second, they demonstrate that the attribution process does not rely only on perceptual fluency, but can be influenced even more by the fluency of conceptual processing. Third, they show that although the fluency heuristic itself is simple, people's use of it is highly sophisticated and makes them robustly sensitive to the actual historical status of current events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article demonstrates that subjective knowledge (i.e., perceived knowledge) can affect the quality of consumers' choices by altering where consumers search. We propose that subjective knowledge increases the likelihood that consumers will locate themselves proximate to stimuli consistent with their subjective knowl-edge. As such, subjective knowledge influences choice by affecting search selec-tivity between environments rather than search within the environment. We suggest that the need for self-consistency drives this effect of subjective knowledge on search. Two lab experiments and one field study find support for the effect of subjective knowledge on nutrition search selectivity and choice as well as for the role of self-consistency. C onsumer research has a long tradition of distinguish-ing between actual knowledge and consumers' assess-ments of their knowledge (e.g., Alba and Hutchinson 2000; Bearden, Hardesty, and Rose 2001; Brucks 1985). Research-ers have used objective knowledge to refer to accurate stored information (e.g., Bettman and Park 1980) and subjective knowledge as a belief about that state of knowledge (e.g., Park and Lessig 1981). Past research has demonstrated that objective knowledge and subjective knowledge (i) are distinct constructs with unique measures (Brucks 1985; Park, Mothersbaugh, and Feick 1994), (ii) influence search and choice behavior dif-ferently (e.g., Radecki and Jaccard 1995; Raju, Lonial, and Mangold 1995), (iii) have unique antecedents (Park et al. 1994; Radecki and Jaccard 1995), and (iv) have widely varying correlations (Brucks 1985 [0.54]; Ellen 1994 [0.08]; for their comments and suggestions, Allison King Chung Lo for her assistance in programming in study 1, and Stephanie Dixon and Bob Morgan for their assistance with data collection for study 3.
Consumers are constantly exposed to subtle situational cues that can influence behavior by priming either goals or “mere” semantic representations such as personality traits. However, little is known about when exactly such priming leads to goal activation, which can have enduring behavioral effects, and when the same prime leads to semantic activation, characterized by short‐lived effects. This research proposes an activation‐striving model, which proposes that behavioral effects of primes are moderated by discrepancies between the prime and the self‐concept. Three studies suggest that self‐consistent primes are more likely to influence choice via semantic activation, whereas self‐discrepant primes are more likely to influence choice via goal activation.
In designing print ads, one of the decisions the advertiser must make is which color(s) to use as executional cues in the ad. Typically, color decisions are based on intuition and anecdotal evidence. To provide guidelines for these decisions, this research proposes and tests a conceptual framework linking the hue, chroma, and value of the color(s) in an ad to consumers' feelings and attitudes. In an experimental study, the three dimensions of color used in an ad are manipulated using a between-subjects design. The results support the hypotheses that ads containing colors with a higher level of value lead to greater liking for the ad, and this effect is mediated by the greater feelings of relaxation elicited by the higher value color. Feelings play an equally important role in the effect of chroma. Consistent with the hypotheses, higher levels of chroma elicit greater feelings of excitement, which in turn increase ad likeability. A follow-up study found that although managers often select higher value and higher chroma colors, in a large number of cases they do not. The findings of both studies are integrated in our discussion of the importance of value and chroma in increasing the range of options available to a manager faced with the selection of colors in an ad.
Consumer knowledge is seldom complete or errorless. Therefore, the self-assessed validity of knowledge and consequent knowledge calibration (i.e., the correspondence between self-assessed and actual validity) is an important issue for the study of consumer decision making. In this article we describe methods and models used in calibration research. We then review a wide variety of empirical results indicating that high levels of calibration are achieved rarely, moderate levels that include some degree of systematic bias are the norm, and confidence and accuracy are sometimes completely uncorrelated. Finally, we examine the explanations of miscalibration and offer suggestions for future research. Copyright 2000 by the University of Chicago.
The results of studies reported in this article suggest that product-related experience has a greater influence on self-assessed knowledge judgments than does stored product class information and that this greater influence is due to greater accessibility in memory. In addition, stored product class information was found to be a more important determinant of objective than self-assessed knowledge, while product-related experience was a more important determinant of self-assessed than objective knowledge. We discuss implications of these results for the relationship between self-assessed and objective knowledge and for future research involving consumer knowledge constructs. Copyright 1994 by the University of Chicago.
This study examined how motivation moderates the impact of central and peripheral processing on the formation of brand attitudes and purchase intentions in an advertising pretest setting. The results indicate that increasing motivation to evaluate an advertised brand through the manipulation of consumer processing goals (1) increases the impact of central brand processing on brand attitudes and decreases the impact of a peripheral cue on brand attitudes, primarily by influencing the strengths of the relations among these constructs rather than by influencing their mean levels, (2) has no effect on the impact of the peripheral cue on brand cognitions, and (3) increases the impact of brand attitudes on purchase intentions by strengthening the attitude-intention relation and by increasing brand attitudes directly. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.
The effects of prior knowledge about a product class on various characteristics of pre-purchase information search within that product class are examined. A new search task methodology is used that imposes only a limited amount of structure on the search task: subjects are not cued with a list of attributes, and the problem is not structured in a brand-by-attribute matrix. The results indicate that prior knowledge facilitates the acquisition of new information and increases search efficiency. The results also support the conceptual distinction between objective and subjective knowledge.
This research examines the moderating role of attempted dietary restraint on the amount of food consumed from small food in small packages versus large food in large packages. Four experiments demonstrate that restrained eaters consume more calories from small food in small packages, while unrestrained eaters consume more calories from large food in a large package. For restrained eaters, overconsumption of the small food in small packages results from a lapse in self-control caused by the stress of perceiving conflicting food information: the small food in small packages is perceived as both diet food and high in calories. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..
Consumers believe that small package formats of hedonic, but not of utilitarian, products help to regulate consumption-especially when their self-regulatory concerns are activated. These beliefs may backfire and increase consumption of hedonic products. Specifically, activating self-regulatory concerns had no consumption effects when tempting products came in small package formats. Yet, when tempting products came in large package formats, consumers deliberated most before consumption, were least likely to consume, and consumed the least. This illustrates how small temptations can remain undetected ("flying under the radar") and large package formats may reduce consumption as a result of the experienced self-control conflict. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..
Examined the effects of manipulated fear and food deprivation on the amounts eaten by 43 obese and 48 normal Ss. Normals eat more when they are calm than when frightened and eat more when they are food deprived than when they are sated. The manipulations have no effects on the amounts eaten by obese Ss who eat roughly the same amounts in all experimental conditions. (18 ref.)
People use 3 heuristics (fluency, generation, and resemblance) in remembering a prior experience of a stimulus. The authors demonstrate that people use the same 3 heuristics in classifying a stimulus as a member of a category and interpret this as support for the idea that people have a unitary memory system that operates by the same fundamental principles in both remembering and nonremembering tasks. The authors argue that the fundamental functions of memory are the production of specific mental events, under the control of the stimulus, task, and context, and the evaluation of the coherence of those events, which controls the subjective experience accompanying performance.
Although a considerable amount of research in personality psychology has been done to conceptualize human personality, identify the “Big Five” dimensions, and explore the meaning of each dimension, no parallel research has been conducted in consumer behavior on brand personality. Consequently, an understanding of the symbolic use of brands has been limited in the consumer behavior literature. In this research, the author develops a theoretical framework of the brand personality construct by determining the number and nature of dimensions of brand personality (Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, and Ruggedness). To measure the five brand personality dimensions, a reliable, valid, and generalizable measurement scale is created. Finally, theoretical and practical implications regarding the symbolic use of brands are discussed.
This paper reviews research and theory on human memory, emphasizing key findings and concepts of importance to marketing and consumer choice. Several implications for promotional decisions are discussed. It is hoped that this review will stimulate further research on, and applications of, memory principles in marketing.
In food packaging, light and pale colors are often used to highlight product healthiness. What has been largely overlooked is that this seemingly positive health cue may also convey another crucial piece of information. It is this paper's premise that light-colored packages evoke two opposing effects: They stimulate favorable health impressions (health effect) and they activate detrimental taste inferences (taste effect) which jointly guide the purchase decision. To contribute to a better understanding of when this package cue is an asset or a liability, this research elucidates the boundary conditions under which the opposing effects operate. The unfavorable color-induced taste effect should be particularly dominant when (i) consumers have a strong need to make heuristic taste inferences (i.e., when tasting is not possible) and (ii) when health is not the overarching goal (e.g., for less health-conscious consumers). A series of experiments manipulating actual food packages confirms that the package health cue can indeed trigger negative taste associations in the consumer's mind that backfire. Marketers therefore are advised to consider the identified contingencies carefully.
To help understand the unconscious drivers of overeating, we examine the effect of health portrayals on people’s judgments of the fillingness of food. An implicit association test and two consumption studies provide evidence that people hold an implicit belief that healthy foods are less filling than unhealthy foods, an effect we label the “healthy = less filling” intuition. The consumption studies provide evidence that people order greater quantities of food, consume more of it, and are less full after consuming a food portrayed as more versus less healthy. In addition, we demonstrate a novel tactic for reversing consumers’ intuitions: highlighting the nourishing aspects of healthy food mitigates the belief that it is less filling. Taken together, these findings add to the burgeoning body of work on the psychological causes of weight gain and obesity and point to a way of overturning the pernicious effects of the “healthy = less filling” intuition.
The marketing and advertising efforts of food manufacturers and restaurants are often criticized for promoting less healthy foods. Yet, their marketing practices may provide a road map for the success of growers, producers, and marketers of healthy foods. This article proposes a framework for understanding the differences in marketing communications for healthy vs. hedonic foods. Specifically, an examination of the promotional efforts of hedonic foods as compared to healthy foods reveals marketing practices that can be adapted for healthy alternatives. Adopting these successful industry practices may promote a healthy shift in the eating habits of consumers and allow businesses that produce healthy products to thrive.
The effects of supraliminal primes on product preference have been explained by two activation mechanisms, goal activation and trait activation. In this research, an additional activation mechanism not explained by goals or traits is identified. Using the implicit association test as a process measure, this article provides evidence that the effect of supraliminal primes on product preference is the result of conceptual fluency and the fluency heuristic. To provide evidence that this mechanism affects preference nonconsciously, this article proposes a dual-processing framework where conscious effects are mediated by explicit attitude and nonconscious effects are mediated by implicit attitude and moderated by the motivation and opportunity to process information. The experimental findings support the authors’ propositions, which provide a number of theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.
Although a considerable amount of research in personality psychology has been done to conceptualize human personality, identify the ''Big Five'' dimensions, and explore the meaning of each dimension, no parallel research has been conducted in consumer behavior on brand personality, Consequently, an understanding of the symbolic use of brands has been limited in the consumer behavior literature. In this research, the author develops a theoretical framework of the brand personality construct by determining the number and nature of dimensions of brand personality (Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, and Ruggedness). Tc, measure the five brand personality dimensions, a reliable, valid, and generalizable measurement scale is created. Finally, theoretical and practical implications regarding the symbolic use of brands are discussed.
This article investigates if and how the valence of color cues affects moral acceptability of (un)desirable consumer behaviors. Study 1 uses colors with definite differences in terms of valence, namely, red and green. Study 2 applies an evaluative conditioning paradigm to endow initially neutral colors with negative versus positive valences. We find an ironic color effect: undesirable behaviors become more acceptable when presented with negatively valenced colors. In general, respondents find (un)desirable behaviors more acceptable when a background color is of the same valence rather than neutral or opposite in valence. Implications for promotion and prevention campaigns are discussed.
When information is missing or unknown, consumers often form nutritional inferences based on perceived attribute variability across brands. Four experiments show that less favorable nutritional inferences are formed when perceived attribute variability is high as opposed to low. This effect occurs when two attributes differing in perceived variability are presented or when the attribute is held constant and perceived variability is manipulated through priming. However, this effect is reduced when a health halo label is present as opposed to absent. Furthermore, the presence of a health halo label increases the amount of a product that is actually consumed when perceived attribute variability is high (vs. low) and when consumers learn from experience. Together, the results suggest that perceived attribute variability and the health halo effect jointly influence inference and behavior.
The development of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) with scales for restrained, emotional, and external eating is described. Factor analyses have shown that all items on restrained and external eating each have high loadings on one factor, but items on emotional eating have two dimensions, one dealing with eating in response to diffuse emotions, and the other with eating in response to clearly labelled emotions. The pattern of corrected item-total correlation coefficients and of the factors was very similar for various subsamples, which indicates a high degree of stability of dimensions on the eating behavior scales. The norms and Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the scales and also the Pearson's correlation coefficients to assess interrelationships between scales indicate that the scales have a high internal consistency and factorial validity. However, their external validity has yet to be investigated.
From beverages to consumer electronics, marketers are using color in innovative ways. Despite this, little academic research
has investigated the role that color plays in marketing. This paper examines how color affects consumer perceptions through
a series of four studies. The authors provide a framework and empirical evidence that draws on research in aesthetics, color
psychology, and associative learning to map hues onto brand personality dimensions (Study 1), as well as examine the roles
of saturation and value for amplifying brand personality traits (Study 2). The authors also demonstrate how marketers can
strategically use color to alter brand personality and purchase intent (Study 3), and how color influences the likability
and familiarity of a brand (Study 4). The results underscore the importance of recognizing the impact of color in forming
consumer brand perceptions.
Across four experiments, the authors find that when information pertaining to the assessment of the healthiness of food items is provided, the less healthy the item is portrayed to be, (1) the better is its inferred taste, (2) the more it is enjoyed during actual consumption, and (3) the greater is the preference for it in choice tasks when a hedonic goal is more (versus less) salient. The authors obtain these effects both among consumers who report that they believe that healthiness and tastiness are negatively correlated and, to a lesser degree, among those who do not report such a belief. The authors also provide evidence that the association between the concepts of "unhealthy" and "tasty" operates at an implicit level. The authors discuss possibilities for controlling the effect of the unhealthy = tasty intuition (and its potential for causing negative health consequences), including controlling the volume of unhealthy but tasty food eaten, changing unhealthy foods to make them less unhealthy but still tasty, and providing consumers with better information about what constitutes "healthy."
Experiments were designed to produce illusions of immediate memory and of perception, in order to demonstrate that subjective experience of familiarity and perceptual quality may rely on an unconscious attribution process. Subjects saw a short and rapidly presented list of words, then pronounced and judged a target word. We influenced the fluency of pronouncing the target through independent manipulation of repetition and visual clarity. Judgments of repetition were influenced by clarity (Experiments 1 and 2), but not when subjects knew that clarity was manipulated (Experiment 3). Conversely, judgments of clarity were influenced by repetition (Experiment 4). We interpret these symmetric illusions to mean that fluent performance is unconsciously attributed to whatever source is apparent and that feelings of familiarity and perceptual quality result when fluency is attributed respectively to past experience or current circumstances.
Plants are the foundation for a significant part of human medicine and for many of the most widely used drugs designed to prevent, treat, and cure disease. Folkloric information concerning traditional remedies for disease has had inestimable value in establishing familial and cultural linkages. During the 20 th century, modern medical science in the U.S. and other devel- oped countries ushered in a new era focused on synthetic medicines. Even though many of these compounds were based on natural compounds found in plants, the drive towards synthetic pharmaceuticals created a knowledge gap concerning the health functionality of plants, crops, and food. Paralleling this development, biochemists and nutritional scientists pioneered the discovery of vitamins during the early decades of the 20 th century. This research paved the way for dietary guidelines based on empirical data collected from animal feeding trials and set the stage for the current emphasis on phytonutrients. Three primary stages characterize the use of fruits and vegetable in human health. The first stage concerns the observation that many fruit and vegetable crops were originally domesticated for their medicinal properties. Making their way into the diet for this purpose, fruit and vegetable crops remained on the fringe from a culinary point of view. The second stage began when the role of vitamins became more widely understood, and fruit and vegetable plants were quickly recognized as a rich source of certain vitamins, minerals, and fiber. At this point, they became more than just an afterthought in the diet of most U.S. citizens. Cartoon icons such as Popeye made the case for the health functionality of leafy greens, while parents schooled their children on the virtues of carrots (Daucus carota), broccoli (Brassica oleracea), and green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). This renaissance resulted in large increases in fresh fruit and vegetable consumption across the country, a trend that continues to this day. The third phase can be characterized by the recognition that fruit and vegetable crops contain compounds that have the potential to influence health beyond nutritional value. These so-called functional foods figure prominently in the dietary recommendations developed during the last decades of the 20 th century. In recent years, surveys suggest nearly two-thirds of grocery shoppers purchase food specifically to reduce the risk of, or manage a specific health condition. Evidence abounds that consumers, including Baby Boomers, choose foods for specific health benefits, such as the antioxidant potential of vegetables, suggesting high levels of nutritional literacy. Clinical and in vitro data have, to some degree, supported the claims that certain foods have the potential to deter disease, however much research remains to be conducted in order to definitively answer specific dietary-based questions about food and health.
The food industry has recently implemented numerous front-of-package nutrition labels to readily convey key aspects a food product's nutritional profile to consumers (e.g., calories and fat content). Although seemingly well-intentioned, such labels might lead consumers to perceive relatively poor nutrition foods in a healthier light. The present research explores whether one underresearched aspect of nutrition labels-namely, their color-might influence perceptions of a product's healthfulness. In Study 1, participants perceived a candy bar as healthier when it bore a green rather than a red calorie label, despite the fact that the labels conveyed the same calorie content. Study 2 examined the perceived healthfulness of a candy bar bearing a green versus white calorie label and assessed individual differences in the importance of healthy eating. Overall, results suggest that green labels increase perceived healthfulness, especially among consumers who place high importance on healthy eating. Discussion focuses on implications for health-related judgment and nutrition labeling.
This paper reviews research and theory on human memory, emphasizing key findings and concepts of importance to marketing and consumer choice. Several implications for promotional decisions are discussed. It is hoped that this review will stimulate further research on, and applications of, memory principles in marketing.
Effective strategies are needed to address obesity, particularly among minority and low-income individuals.
To test whether a two-phase point-of-purchase intervention improved food choices across racial, socioeconomic (job type) groups.
A 9-month longitudinal study from 2009 to 2010 assessing person-level changes in purchases of healthy and unhealthy foods following sequentially introduced interventions. Data were analyzed in 2011.
Participants were 4642 employees of a large hospital in Boston MA who were regular cafeteria patrons.
The first intervention was a traffic light-style color-coded labeling system encouraging patrons to purchase healthy items (labeled green) and avoid unhealthy items (labeled red). The second intervention manipulated "choice architecture" by physically rearranging certain cafeteria items, making green-labeled items more accessible and red-labeled items less accessible.
Proportion of green- (or red-) labeled items purchased by an employee. Subanalyses tracked beverage purchases, including calories and price per beverage.
Employees self-identified as white (73%); black (10%); Latino (7%); and Asian (10%). Compared to white employees, Latino and black employees purchased a higher percentage of red items at baseline (18%, 28%, and 33%, respectively, p<0.001) and a lower percentage of green (48%, 38%, and 33%, p<0.001). Labeling decreased all employees' red item purchases (-11.2%, 95% CI= -13.6%, -8.9%) and increased green purchases (6.6%, 95% CI=5.2%, 7.9%). Red beverage purchases decreased most (-23.8%, 95% CI= -28.1%, -19.6%). The choice architecture intervention further decreased red purchases after the labeling. Intervention effects were similar across all race/ethnicity and job types (p>0.05 for interaction between race or job type and intervention). Mean calories per beverage decreased similarly over the study period for all racial groups and job types, with no increase in per-beverage spending.
Despite baseline differences in healthy food purchases, a simple color-coded labeling and choice architecture intervention improved food and beverage choices among employees from all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Little empirical research has examined the implicit effects of environmental cues on consumer behavior. Across six studies using a combination of field and laboratory methods, the authors find that products are more accessible, evaluated more favorably, and chosen more frequently when the surrounding environment contains more perceptually or conceptually related cues. The findings highlight the impact of frequent-in addition to recent-priming in shaping product evaluation and choice: More frequent exposure to perceptually or conceptually related cues increases product accessibility and makes the product easier to process. In turn, this increased accessibility influences product evaluation and choice, which are found to vary directly with the frequency of exposure to conceptually related cues. These results support the hypothesis that conceptual priming effects can have a strong impact on real-world consumer judgments.
A study is presented that examines the effect of specific retail elements on deviations from the expected schema, or prototypicality, of a retail store. The results suggest that subtle differences in the store name, the location, and the appearance of its salespeople can evoke contrast in the form of variable typicality scores. A structural model is presented that shows the outcomes of this variance in a retail context involving women's apparel stores. Low typicality is associated with increased excitement and discomfort, and these emotions affect patronage intentions and perceived shopping value. This finding is counterbalanced by a direct, positive link between typicality and patronage intentions.
This study deals with a concept called food-related lifestyle. We defined the concept or food-related lifestyle as a mental construct explaining behavior in relation to the product class "foods," and describe the concept as a System of cognitive categories, scripts, and their associations, which relate a set of products to a set of values. On the basis of these theoretical assumptions, a measurement instrument has been developed, applied, and tested in a cross-culturally valid way. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.
The purpose of these studies was to test the hypotheses that simplified nutrition labeling and taxation alter food selection and intake. In Experiment 1, participants consumed lunch in the laboratory three times with no labels, standard nutrition labels, or traffic light diet labels at each visit. In Experiment 2, participants were given $6.00 with which to purchase lunch in the laboratory twice with standard pricing on one visit and a 25% tax on "red" foods on another visit. Participants received a brief education session on the labeling systems being used. Total energy intake and energy intake and number of foods purchased from each traffic light category were measured. Nutrition labeling decreased energy intake in lean females, but had no effect in men or in obese females. Traffic light labels increased consumption of "green" foods and decreased consumption of "red" foods. Taxation decreased the purchasing of "red" foods in obese, but not non-obese participants. There were no interactions between taxation and simplified nutrition labeling. Although generalization to real-world purchasing and consumption is limited by the laboratory study design, our findings suggests that taking multiple, simultaneous approaches to reduce energy intake may have the greatest impact on food purchases and/or nutrient consumption.
Processing fluency, or the subjective experience of ease with which people process information, reliably influences people's judgments across a broad range of social dimensions. Experimenters have manipulated processing fluency using a vast array of techniques, which, despite their diversity, produce remarkably similar judgmental consequences. For example, people similarly judge stimuli that are semantically primed (conceptual fluency), visually clear (perceptual fluency), and phonologically simple (linguistic fluency) as more true than their less fluent counterparts. The authors offer the first comprehensive review of such mechanisms and their implications for judgment and decision making. Because every cognition falls along a continuum from effortless to demanding and generates a corresponding fluency experience, the authors argue that fluency is a ubiquitous metacognitive cue in reasoning and social judgment.
This study investigated the effect of pre-exposure to two types of food cues (olfactory and cognitive) on food intake by restrained and unrestrained eaters. Subjects were exposed to either no cue, an olfactory cue, a cognitive cue or a combination of the two types of food cues for ten minutes prior to eating. Restrained eaters ate significantly more than did unrestrained eaters after exposure to the food cues. There was no difference in food intake when there was no pre-exposure to the cues. Although baseline subjective ratings were equivalent for both groups of subjects, after cue pre-exposure, restrained subjects, in keeping with their increased consumption, indicated a significantly greater craving, liking, and desire to eat the cued food (pizza) than did the unrestrained subjects. These findings suggest that restrained eaters are more sensitive and reactive to food cues than are unrestrained eaters. The food cues appeared to generate an appetitive urge to eat in restrained eaters.