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Colour of food as a vector for children's well-being
Abstract
Purpose – A product colour plays an important role in consumers’ preferences. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the impact of the three-dimensional character of colour (brightness, saturation and vividness) on children’s behaviour towards a food product and as a source of well-being.
Design/methodology/approach – Two experimentswere conducted. Study 1 was conducted with 62 children and used four visuals of syrup presenting two colours (red/green) and two variations of vividness (vivid/dim).
Study 2 was conducted with 70 children and used four pictures of stewed apples and four pictures of pouches to test the influence of each dimension of colour on children’s preferences for the product and the product packaging.
Findings – Results show that the three-dimensional character of colour plays an important role in children’s gustatory inferences and well-being.
Research limitations/implications – The study is restricted to one food product (in each study) habitually consumed by children. Other products could be investigated to show how colour can contribute to children’s well-being.
Practical implications – The paper addresses the issue of well-being as a potential brand-positioning element.
Social implications – The paper suggests new avenues to use the brightness/saturation or vividness of a product or packaging colour as a potential element to arouse positive sensations that generate children’s well-being even when the product is not a preferred one.
Originality/value – This works initiates creative thinking concerning the impact of a product colour on children consumers.
... Although the importance of multisensory experience in food consumption has been studied intensely in the offline context (e.g. Elder and Krishna, 2012;Ezan et al., 2019;Wang, 2013;Woods et al., 2016), we find a significant gap in the literature that demonstrates the underlying mechanism of crossmodal responses when consumers make food consumption decisions in the online environment. ...
... While previous findings focused on the effects of a food product's physical attributes (e.g. color in Ezan et al., 2019;shape in Liang et al., 2013) on taste perception and emotional and behavioral outcomes, as far as we are aware, this is the first time that the effects of visual design principles (e.g. repetition and compositional lines) have been validated as an effective technique to engage customers in multisensory experience and enhance purchase intention in the context of online retailing. ...
... For example, Liang et al. (2013) found that the color of a food influences perceived sweetness. Also, Ezan et al. (2019) demonstrated how three dimensions of colors (e.g. saturation, brightness and vividness) influence different taste perceptions (sweet, refreshing, acid, etc.). ...
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effects of two visual design principles, repetition and compositional lines, in a food image on purchase intention in the context of a mobile food delivery app and test the effect of crossmodal correspondences between vision and taste as a processing mechanism.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, two experiments were conducted using burgers and iced tea as stimuli.
Findings
The results demonstrate that repetition of an identical food product increases visual appeal for both burgers and iced tea. However, the optimal level of repetition was different between the two products. The findings show that different compositional lines generate different levels of visual appeal and the effects of compositional lines vary between burgers and iced tea. The results also validate the serial mediation effects of vision and taste between design principles and purchase intention.
Originality/value
The findings of this study add substantially to the understanding of visual information processing in food retailing by demonstrating how design principles such as repetition and compositional lines facilitate crossmodal responses between vision and taste and influence purchase decisions in a mobile platform. Also this study provides guidance as to how food retailers use design principles (e.g. repetition and compositional lines) for different products effectively when the food retailers develop visual digital content for a mobile app.
... However, the aspect of language as a packaging strategy has had very limited discussion in previous research. Mostly, the packaging strategies discussed focused on the aspects of colour Mai et al (2016); Huang & Lu (2015); Spence & Velasco (2018); Ezan et al (2019); Veflen et al (2023), shape (Bettels et al., 2020;Ganai et al., 2019;Saad et al., 2020), size (Liang et al., 2022), and type of writing (Waheed et al., 2018;Celhay et al., 2015;Deliya & Parmar, 2012;Asri et al., 2020). Therefore, this research was carried out to explore as well as discuss the packaging strategy applied by the industry in Malaysia to the halal food products exported to the MENA region. ...
... It was reported that, particularly during early childhood, children are attracted by red toys [18,57], although gender type colour preferences seem to be gradually acquired through increased social contact and school [18]. Moreover, it was reported that a red colour for food or its packaging is perceived sweeter and, thus, preferred compared to blue or green packaging [58]. ...
The colour of a product plays an important role in consumer experiences, and in the context of pharmaceutical products, this could potentially affect a patient’s expectations, behaviours, and adherence. Several studies have been conducted on adults, but little is known about children’s opinions on colours of medicines and to what extent medicines’ colour affects their acceptability. To address this gap, a systematic search in PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, and Web of Science was conducted. Two authors independently screened the titles, abstracts, and references of all articles and selected studies conducted on children (0–18 years old), assessing children’s preferences or opinions about colour of oral dosage forms as either a primary or secondary objective or as an anecdotal record. A total of 989 publications were identified and, after screening, 18 publications were included in the review. Red and pink were the most liked colours and there appeared to be a relationship between the colour of a medicine and expected taste/flavour. The review also highlighted a scarcity of information, usually collected as an anecdotal record. Several gaps in the current knowledge were underlined, emphasizing the need of patient-centred studies to understand if the use of certain colours can improve or worsen the acceptability of a paediatric medicine. This will help inform pharmaceutical manufacturers and regulators on the role and need of colours in children’s medicines beyond quality purposes.
... green) may reduce sweetness perception (Maga, 1974;Schifferstein, Wehrle, & Carbon, 2019). Green pear nectar is perceived to be less sweet than samples of other colors (Ezan, Pantin-Sohier, & Lancelot-Miltgen, 2019;Pangborn & Hansen, 1963). This has been partly explained by the fact that most people would associate green pear nectar with unripened pears, which are not usually sweet; therefore, people would associate green with sourness. ...
Sugar, as an essential component of beverages, not only provides sweetness in beverages but also plays a significant role in their flavor, texture, and preservation. In recent years, global sugar consumption has continued to increase, causing a variety of health concerns. Currently, there is growing awareness of the adverse effects of high-sugar consumption. Since beverages are the primary source of daily sugar intake, sugar reduction in beverages is imperative. In this work, the necessity of sugar reduction in beverages was first introduced. Furthermore, four primary sugar reduction strategies (direct sugar reduction, multi-sensory integration, sweeteners, and sweetness enhancers) employed in the beverage industry were systematically summarized. Each sugar reduction strategy was critically compared, while the current research progresses as well as challenges were discussed. The application of sweeteners is the most effective and widely used strategy for sugar reduction in spite of flavor and health concerns of sweeteners. Meanwhile, multi-sensory integration is also a promising strategy for sugar reduction. In addition, different evaluation methods (chemical, cell-based and sensory methods) for sweetness were overviewed. Given the current challenges of sugar reduction, the prospects of sugar reduction in beverages were also discussed. The present work can provide the current progress for sugar reduction in the beverage industry.
... Our results revealed the difficulty of using spirulina flakes and powder as ingredients in other foods because of its sensory qualities: its color and flavor were generally disliked, which accentuated the perceived complexity of spirulina products. A food's color is known to influence sensory and hedonic expectations (47,48), and Martins et al. (49) highlighted that color particularly affected food acceptance. In addition, a bad flavor can lead to aversion (50). ...
In recent years the microalga spirulina has attracted attention due to its high nutritional value and ability to be cultivated with little impact on the environment. It could be developed in agri-food industries, but a significant obstacle to its development is a lack of consumer knowledge. Is spirulina perceived as a food? What images does it convey? Previous research has evaluated the production parameters of spirulina and its medicinal effects, but little is known about consumers’ views of spirulina and the widespread acceptability of this product. Here, representations and perceptions of spirulina by consumers of organic foods were explored. Four focus groups provided insights from both consumers and non-consumers of spirulina, and the discussions were analyzed using thematic and lexical analyses. Our results are presented in the context of well-known behavioral theories in order to explain the patterns of representation and consumption that we observed. Overall, this study highlighted distinct differences in consumers’ knowledge and product experience. Two general representations of spirulina were prevalent, those of a dietary supplement and of a seaweed, with the latter image presenting an obstacle to its adoption because of its discordance with traditional French cuisine. The motives for and obstacles to consuming spirulina helped subjects identify tradeoffs; the main tradeoff reported was between its nutritional/health benefits and its distasteful sensory properties. The subjects in this study also expressed conflicting views about spirulina’s environmental impacts. Based on our results, we propose strategies to increase the potential use of spirulina as a food by French consumers.
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.
Consumer well-being (CWB) is an important multifaceted concept which contributes directly to consumers’ need satisfaction at the material, emotional, social, and physical levels. Despite interest in the concept, contemporary research on CWB is limited in agreement over its definition, measurement and characterisation leaving The term ambiguous, abstract, and with no universally agreed upon conceptualisation. We seek to provide a concise review of current research on the concept of CWB. Our review comprises 265 peer-review articles drawn from scholarly databases, which have been analysed according to a range of theoretical and methodological foci. An in-depth systematic literature review approach was followed. With regard to CWB foci, the review illustrates that CWB research has focused on individual consumer entities with a self-beneficiary foci. Secondly, the review identifies four CWB themes, namely wellbeing, well doing, well having and well becoming. Although, scholars refer to all of these as CWB, they vary in their theoretical conceptualisation, operationalisation and reference to temporal states. Thirdly, the review identifies two mega themes within CWB research namely definition centrality and problem centrality. A framework for CWB is subsequently proposed according to context-based versus object-based modelling. The review concludes by presenting a researcher guideline for CWB and an agenda for future research.
Packaging plays an indispensable role in the sales of a product, whether it is a consumer good or an electronic product. Apart from its predominant purpose of contributing better housing and fortification to its contents, packaging today largely deals with attracting buyers towards the product and communicating the product’s message to the buyer, while trying to stand out next to a number of other competing products which serve the same purpose. The colour of packaging has by far the most paramount role in attracting the consumer. In this study, we analyse visual cues and feelingsof the consumer after they look at a package of a specific colour, which in our case is a soap and also study the impact of price hike on the purchase intent of the buyer.
Children have received much research attention in many different academic disciplines within social sciences, including marketing. The main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the marketing literature to investigate the historical evolution of the studies on “children” and shed light on possible gaps which could serve as new research areas for future studies. To the authors’ best knowledge, there have been a few attempts on the topic, mostly with a narrow focus on only some aspects of this important concept. The significance of this current research is that it reviews 423 articles from marketing‐related journals and evaluates the development of thought on “children” from every marketing‐based perspective that once has been a subject of scholarly attention. In this study, we examined leading articles, authors and institutions, methodologies used, countries data collected from, and the age of the sample. In addition, an auto‐correlation map is created to identify all the research domains in marketing literature related to children. Our correlation matrix indicates that major subareas in children and marketing literature are children's consumer socialization and role in family decision‐making, materialism, vulnerability and ethics, food, brands, and advertising. Findings revealed that while marketing scholars have shown great attention to children during the last two decades and a wide array of articles have been frequently published on the eight sub‐areas mentioned, marketing literature is still underdeveloped on three aspects: sustainability, technology and digitalization, and cross‐cultural differences. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Persons look for beverages to satisfy thirst (refresh) and feel fulfilled (thick). However, refreshing and thickness are concepts that lack a measurement instrument that captures an accurate judgment of consumers’ perceptions. This research aims to propose a tool to assess consumers’ refreshing and thickness expectations of fruit juices. Items were developed through a two-stage qualitative-exploratory study, followed by a quantitative study describing the scale’s composition using an Item Response Theory approach. Hence, we suggest a set of items to consider when measuring both concepts from a perception task. Moreover, results show that thickness and refreshing are distinct and independent ideas. We provide a theoretical contribution defining each construct and recognizing the attributes that best describe refreshing and thickness for five different fruit juices. Our methodological contribution is creating a scale for each of the concepts. Practically, developing a thickness and refreshing scale is useful for product developers and marketers who expect to satisfy consumers’ needs for soft drinks.
Purpose
This article aims to determine how packaging colour (hue, saturation and brightness) for a healthy food product might influence children's evaluation of the packaging and their attitude towards the brand.
Design/methodology/approach
An experiment involving 157 children (7–12 years of age) features a within-subject, factorial design. The product selected for this experiment is an unknown brand of orange juice.
Findings
Each colour dimension on packaging exerts an impact on children's evaluation of the packaging and attitude towards the brand. Therefore, the colour featured on packaging can be an effective lever for action to ensure and enhance children's healthy diets.
Research limitations/implications
Further research should investigate these effects across additional product categories, brands and colours.
Practical implications
Packaging is an important marketing tool that influences children's evaluation of the packaging and attitude towards the brand, especially at the point of sale. To understand and exploit these packaging colour effects appropriately for healthy products, it is crucial to understand the effects of various packaging colour dimensions.
Originality/value
Little prior research has addressed the effects of packaging on children's responses, especially by accounting for multiple colour dimensions. Nor has extant research identified how packaging colour dimensions can affect children's evaluation and brand attitude. Especially in consideration of the growing problem of childhood obesity, it is important to give marketers effective ways to promote healthy products.
Research into children’s psychological well-being is scarce and fragmented. To be able to study the predictors of children’s psychological well-being and advance the field, a reliable and valid measure is needed. In studies among adults, psychological well-being (PWB) is commonly measured along six dimensions (environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, self-acceptance, autonomy, and positive relations with others) using Ryff’s PWB scale. Because the original scale was too abstract for use among children, we adapted its items to make them suitable for 8- to 12-year-olds. After a successful pretest, we conducted a pilot study (N = 157) and main study (N = 1877) to test the statistical properties of our Psychological Well-Being scale for children (PWB-c). Based on confirmatory factor analysis three versions were developed with, respectively, 24, 12, and 6 items. All versions were tested for internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity. We recommend using the 24- or 12-item versions of the scale, because they score high on all three criteria.
Customers shopped for a set of control packages (i.e. decorated composite cans, metal cans, and glass jars) vs. similarly decorated experimental packaging {i.e. injection in-mold labeled (IML) plastic containers} in CUshopTM. Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics, Clemson University. The objective was to determine if IML decoration affected a shopper’s point of sale interest vs. non-IML methods of package decoration. Eighty-one volunteer participants wore eye tracking glasses and shopped for 5 products (3 of interest) over three days. Day one, control packaging data was collected; day two, IML packaging data was collected; day three, control and IML packaging positioned side-by-side data was collected. Quantitative analysis was completed for eye movements from each participant and in aggregate. Qualitative observations were recorded via a post experiment survey each day. Results showed that participants trended towards finding IML packaging faster than any of the controls; however, there were no statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) between the IML decorated samples vs. the control decorated samples for the Time to First Fixation (TTFF) and Total Fixation Duration (TFD) metrics. Because a fundamental difference between control packages and IML containers was the decorating process, the many benefits of IML were not represented in this study. It was hypothesized that the IML containers would rank equal to or better than the control packages. From the perspective of the researchers, data is compelling because IML packaging is new to the tested categories; and it was compared against traditional packages and products. The use of eye tracking applied to injection IML packaging is also novel in this field.
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.
Indicators of social progress are the primary drivers of public policy. If existing economic measures of prosperity are complemented with wellbeing metrics that better capture changes in individuals’ quality of life, decision makers will be better informed to assess and design policy. The science of wellbeing has yielded extensive knowledge and measurement instruments during more than three decades. We review the existing wellbeing literature and answer three questions: (1) What is wellbeing? (2) How do we measure wellbeing? And, importantly, distinguishing this review from previous ones, (3) How do we use wellbeing metrics to assess and design policy? We suggest that the science of wellbeing is empirically mature enough to complement economic assessments of national progress. We build on existing work to provide recommendations on metrics and new, specific policies for societal wellbeing.
The first function of package is protection. Although the commodities are produced for market, the protection of package is futility, if the commodities don’t sale. So acceleration of market is very important. The package of children’s food is one of the packages, so it must pay attention to the market. An excellent package of children’s food must research the children’s physiological and mental characters beside the basic elements in design. This is excellent artist work. This thesis discussed the children’s response, which faced the color, figure, and model and opening of the food’s package, revealed the disciplinarians of design and then explore the connections of element in design and interest.
Providing well-being and maintaining good health are main objectives subjects seek from diet. This manuscript describes the development and preliminary validation of an instrument assessing well-being
associated with food and eating habits in a general healthy population. Qualitative data from 12 groups of
discussion (102 subjects) conducted with healthy subjects were used to develop the core of the Well
being related to Food Questionnaire (Well-BFQ). Twelve other groups of discussion with subjects with
joint (n = 34), digestive (n = 32) or repetitive infection complaints (n = 30) were performed to develop
36 items specific to these complaints. Five main themes emerged from the discussions and formed the modular backbone of the questionnaire: “Grocery shopping”, “Cooking”, “Dining places” "Commensality”, “Eating and drinking”. Each module has a common structure: items about subject’s
food behavior and items about immediate and short-term benefits. An additional theme - “Eating habits
and health” - assesses subjects’ beliefs about expected benefits of food and eating habits on health,
disease prevention and protection, and quality of ageing. A preliminary validation was conducted with 444 subjects with balanced diet; non-balanced diet; and standard diet. The structure of the questionnaire
was further determined using principal component analyses exploratory factor analyses, with
confirmation of the sub-sections food behaviors, immediate benefits (pleasure, security, relaxation), direct
short-term benefits (digestion and satiety, energy and psychology), and deferred long-term benefits
(eating habits and health). Thirty-three subscales and 14 single items were further defined. Confirmatory
analyses confirmed the structure, with overall moderate to excellent convergent and divergent validity and
internal consistency reliability. The Well-BFQ is a unique, modular tool that comprehensively assesses
the full picture of well-being related to food and eating habits in the general population
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.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of eco-designed packaging on consumers’ responses. It defines the concept of eco-designed packaging, and proposes a consumer-led taxonomy of its cues. Attitudinal and behavioral, positive and negative responses triggered by the perception of these signals are analyzed. Design/methodology/approach – Results were reached through qualitative methods. A phenomenological approach consisting of eight in-depth interviews has been followed by a series of ten Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) interviews. The synergy of these two methods is underlined. Findings – The complexity of packaging ecological cues perception is outlined by expressing the differences in the nature of these cues. A taxonomy is then presented; ecological cues fall into three categories: structural cues, graphical/iconic cues and informational cues. Finally, consumers’ responses to the perception of eco-designed packaging are presented and perceived benefits and perceived sacrifices are revealed. Practical implications – Packaging is of great importance in consumers’ purchase decision process, especially in situations of temporal pressure and hyperchoice environments. Since consumers take more andmore into account the ethicality of the brand in their consumption, the understanding of their attitudes and behaviors toward eco-designed packaging may enable brands to build a competitive advantage. Originality/value – The literature review reveals that there is no similar research available. The use of two qualitative methods enables to understand consumers’ deep-seated motivations, attitudes and behaviors toward eco-designed packaging. The results of this study can also be used by advertisers, for social marketing campaigns, to encourage consumers to reduce the global ecological footprint of packaging.
Colour is the single most important product-intrinsic sensory cue when it comes to setting people's expectations regarding the likely taste and flavour of food and drink. To date, a large body of laboratory research has demonstrated that changing the hue or intensity/saturation of the colour of food and beverage items can exert a sometimes dramatic impact on the expectations, and hence on the subsequent experiences, of consumers (or participants in the lab). However, should the colour not match the taste, then the result may well be a negatively valenced disconfirmation of expectation. Food colours can have rather different meanings and hence give rise to differing expectations, in different age groups, not to mention in different cultures. Genetic differences, such as in a person's taster status, can also modulate the psychological impact of food colour on flavour perception. By gaining a better understanding of the sensory and hedonic expectations elicited by food colour in different groups of individuals, researchers are coming to understand more about why it is that what we see modulates the multisensory perception of flavour, as well as our appetitive and avoidance-related food behaviours.
Food marketing is pervasive in high- and low/middle-income countries and is recognized as a significant risk factor for childhood obesity. Although food packaging is one of the most important marketing tools to persuade consumers at the point-of-sale, scant research has examined how it influences children's perceptions. This study was conducted in Guatemala and aimed to understand which snack foods are the most frequently purchased by children and how aspects of food packaging influence their product perceptions.
Six activity-based focus groups were conducted in two elementary public schools with thirty-seven children (Grades 1 through 6, age range 7-12 years old). During each focus group, children participated in three activities: 1) list their most frequently purchased food products; 2) select the picture of their favorite product, the packaging they liked best, and the product they thought was the healthiest from eight choices; and 3) draw the package of a new snack.
Children reported purchasing salty snacks most frequently. Most children chose their favorite product based on taste perceptions, which can be influenced by food packaging. Visual elements influenced children's selection of favorite packaging (i.e., characters, colors) and healthiest product (i.e., images), and persuaded some children to incorrectly think certain foods contained healthy ingredients. When children generated their own drawings of a new product, the most frequently included packaging elements in the drawings were product name, price, product image and characters, suggesting those aspects of the food packaging were most significant to them.
Policies regulating package content and design are required to discourage consumption of unhealthy snacks. This might be another public health strategy that can aid to halt the obesity epidemic.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach at defining a retail channel strategy applied to young consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
– The authors use a qualitative study that adopts the consumer perspective and employed an investiga-tive channel-scan approach based on two scenarios applied to 12 retailers selling childrenswear. The authors studied 139 flows between all the channels and explored the retailers’ child orientation.
Findings
– The paper revealed that the channel configuration and integration of retailers showed a di-versity of approach leading us to distinguish eight different retail channel strategies. It also appears that there is limited evidence of a specific selling channels designed for children by retailers in selling products aimed at the child market.
Research limitations/implications
– This study contributes to the retail marking literature by showing evidence of child orienta-tion in channel management. Nevertheless, the results show the need for future research to understand the causes and effects of channel child orientation and the way it contributes to the retail channel strategy.
Practical implications
– The findings have practical implications for retailers by providing a framework to help them in their decision-making regarding retail channel strategy. It also sheds new light on the con-tribution from young consumers in retail channel strategy.
Originality/value
– The contribution of this paper is to explore the combined perspective of configuration and integration of the channel-to-market as part of the retail channel strategy. The paper also provides evidence of child orientation in retail channel strategy when retailers selling prod-ucts for children are concerned.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of recalling visual and child-oriented product packaging elements vs informational content on children’s influence on household purchases.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study was conducted using quantitative research among 100 French consumers of breakfast cereals aged six to 11.
Findings
– The paper challenges previous findings. First, the recall of the various types of packaging elements was equivalent across age groups. Second, the impact of visual and child-oriented element recall on purchase influences was high, especially for younger children, but not superior to the impact of recalling informational packaging elements. Third, adding information and other elements to visuals reduced young children’s intentions to influence purchases, suggesting that the overload – not the nature – of elements has a negative impact. Fourth, packaging recall seemed weakly related to purchase influence – at least for well-known brands.
Research limitations/implications
– Further research on larger samples will allow to encompass potential moderators such as brand context, consumer context and packaging stimulus. Research should also compare the positive (reassuring) influence of adding informational elements on mothers to the negative one it has on children’s influence.
Practical implications
– These findings can be used to wisely plan retailers’ packaging strategy. But all in all, retail packaging represents only one of the many factors which impact upon children’s diet and food consumptions and should be reassessed in the face other influences.
Originality/value
– The findings challenge and expand one’s knowledge on the relationship between children and the relative influence of child-oriented elements and information, across age groups.
Purpose
– We discuss the use of creative qualitative techniques for research studies focusing on young participants and encourage the development of what we term a “child‐centric” approach. We hope that by sharing our experiences we can help move forward the discussion of child‐centric approaches and methods, providing a useful starting point for researchers considering conducting qualitative research with children, and food for thought for those experienced at researching the lives of young consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
– We begin our paper with a general overview of approaches to childhood as a social category, discuss methodological approaches to research with children and review the literature that informed our methodological approach. In the second part of the paper we focus on an empirical investigation, outlining a methodology with which we sought to embrace children's active participation. Our qualitative approach incorporates the following: quasi‐ethnographic methods; interviews; projective techniques and photography.
Findings
– It is suggested that by shifting our research focus from a top‐down perspective into one that embraces childhood as a culture in its own right, we can greet children within their own language, using terminology they understand, and ultimately providing the context for a more fruitful and exciting data collection process. Our research design was effective in providing children with a voice with which to relate their experiences, and in this way we saw ourselves as facilitators, letting children tell us their own story in their own words.
Originality/value
– We argue that it is only by recognising and taking on board some of the recommendations that have emerged from the debate concerning research with children that consumer researchers will discover a fuller appreciation of the participants we seek to understand. Lessons from this approach can also be fruitfully used to enhance the experiences of research involving participants other than children who should also benefit from more participant‐centred research designs.
The aim of the study was to investigate consumers' preferences for variations of a visually presented meal. The study was conducted in three middle‐sized Danish towns, including 768 respondents who were presented with a computerized questionnaire that initially displayed four consecutive series of photos. The series each consisted of eight unique photos of randomized food dishes arranged around the center square in a 3 × 3 array. Five meal components, each with two levels, were investigated. One level of each component was used for each photo, in total 2 ⁵ = 32 combinations.
The respondents were asked to select the meal they preferred the most, the second most and the least, respectively. Significant interactions were found between meal components and background variables such as, gender, age, geographic variables, purchase store and level of education. The current procedure can be applied to help solve a number of problems involving consumer choices.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
This study outlines an approach to use visual images for investigations of food. Our results suggest that rather complex food stimuli of great similarity can be used to subdivide consumers based on sociodemographic background variables. We present an efficient and cheap quick method that provides and captures more information than an ordinary survey that focuses merely on the most preferred option. As a prerequisite for success, stimuli should be well known and appropriately selected. Hence, the present quick method can easily be applied for several practical purposes, such as pretesting, labeling, product flop prevention, and for specific optimization and selection tasks, e.g., convenience meals and institutional meal services in various contexts.
The conjoint layout used allows for late‐based segmentation. It further allows for estimation on aggregate as well as individual level. The current approach is useful for database and/or online implementation.
Colour affects many aspects of our lives. One area of particular interest in recent years has been the role of colour cues in the perception of food and drink. While the majority of this research has tended to focus on the impact of changing the colour of the product itself, there is now a growing body of scientifically-credible research (building on earlier anecdotal claims) that the colour of the background against which food and drink is served affects both people's perception of it, and also their serving and consumption behaviour as well. In this review, the empirical evidence on this topic is summarized and the various mechanisms that have been put forward to account for such results outlined. Gaining a better understanding of when, and why, background colour impacts our food preferences, perception, and ultimately our behaviour, is likely to be important to chefs, food bloggers, restaurateurs, packaging designers, and those working on encouraging various special needs populations to consume more (or less).
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.
Owners of brands that target children are aware of the influence of packaging. Recently, managers of brands addressed to young consumers had made important decisions about all aspects of their offering, including package design. To attract young consumers, they integrate innovation in their designs: vivid colors, funny, and playful aspects, distinctive package shape and spokes-character. They conceived a new type of packaging called ‘Toy-packaging’. This research aims at investigating the influence of this new packaging on children’s perception.
The physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. Nevertheless, the topic of product design is rarely, if ever, encountered in marketing journals. To bring needed attention to the subject of product design and enable researchers to better investigate design issues, the author introduces a conceptual model and several propositions that describe how the form of a product relates to consumers’ psychological and behavioral responses. After presenting this model, the author describes numerous strategic implications and research directions.
Healthier foods (e.g. ‘light’ products with low fat or sugar content) often lead to lower hedonic evaluation and decreased satiating properties, putting these products at a sensory disadvantage compared to their regular counterparts. Nudging consumers towards healthy foods by making healthy foods more attractive may facilitate healthier food choices. Package colour communicates product properties and could be used to make a healthy product more attractive. Healthier alternatives are typically packaged in less vibrantly coloured, watered-down packages compared to their regular counterparts. Does this communicate the intended message?
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.
This paper examines the impact of product imagery (on packages) on consumers’ beliefs about the brand and their evaluations of both the brand and package. An empirical study using food products demonstrates that packages displaying a picture of the product can communicate information about the brand, and thus change brand beliefs. In addition, consumers who placed the most importance on these beliefs also had a better evaluation of the brand itself when its package included a product picture. This research thus provides evidence that consumers use packaging, an extrinsic cue, to infer intrinsic product attributes. In addition, consumers reported a more positive attitude toward the package itself when it included a product picture.
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.
L'objectif de cet article est d'étudier les effets de la couleur dominante d'une annonce publicitaire sur les émotions suscitées par l'annonce, l'agrément vis-à-vis de la couleur et l'attitude envers l'annonce. Les conditions d'existence de telles relations sont mises en évidence. Une étude fondée sur une expérimentation a été menée. Les résultats montrent que l'effet de la couleur n'est pas direct; il se produit par l'intermédiaire d'une variable médiatrice: la congruence entre la couleur et l'annonce. Il dépend, par ailleurs, du type de produit.
Purpose – Children are increasingly seen as active consumers participating in various aspects of family food consumption. The purpose of this paper is to look at children’s first-hand accounts of their visits to the supermarket and reports on their in store experiences as participants in the family food shopping. It offers an account of family food shopping from the perspective of the children. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative discussion groups with children aged eight to 11 years research were used to elicit children’s perceptions of food shopping as part of a study into food consumption experiences. This offers an opportunity to capture the children’s perspective on this everyday consumption activity. Findings – Engaging in family food shopping is part of a socialisation process that introduces children to food retail environments and to shopping scripts played out in store. Young children claim to actively participate in family food shopping in store contributing in a variety of ways to family...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of “shopscapes” the authors define as the imaginary geography each person or group of people builds based on his daily experiences and practices in reference to retail environments and activities and to apply it to children.
Design/methodology/approach
– The authors develop an original and child-centred methodology, by combining drawings and interviews and the authors focus the approach, not on the final drawings but on the drawing activity per se where children work in pairs and collaborate.
Findings
– The authors demonstrate the validity of the approach by proposing that a drawing can only be validly interpreted through the content of an open verbal exchange with its author/s. The activity of drawing, and of mapping when “shopscapes” are questioned, is interestingly richer and more fruitful than just the final result.
Originality/value
– The originality of the work lies in the concept of shopscapes and in the methodology used in order to reveal them. The authors intend to reveal the nature and range of children’s “shopscapes” with the objective of providing reliable information about on how children perceive the retailing experience.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of packaging colour (chromatic vs achromatic) on children’s brand name memorization (recall and recognition). This research examined the impact of age and school grade on brand name memorization and on the relationship between packaging colour and memorization.
Design/methodology/approach
– The experimentation concerned 160 French children from seven to 12 years old.
Findings
– The results showed that chromatic colour of packaging has a positive impact on brand name recognition but not on the recall. Furthermore, the age variable has a significant positive effect on recall capacity but not on brand name recognition.
Research limitations/implications
– Other variables can be introduced in the conceptual model, like product involvement (by adding other products), children’s colour preference, hue and value colour (by included diverse colours).
Practical implications
– Children’s importance as a commercial target is increasing, marketing managers have to differentiate their products on the shelves. Consequently, the choice of the packaging dominant colour appears to be a crucial strategic decision, because it allows children to recognize the brand name. Professionals have to adapt their strategies of differentiation to children’s ages knowing that younger children need more visual stimuli than older ones.
Originality/value
– This research has important theoretical contributions. There is very little research on the effect of packaging on children’s purchasing behaviour. Moreover, no research has studied the impact of colour packaging on children’s memorization (seven to 12 years old).
Building a strong brand identity is central for increasing brand equity. As a result, oftentimes, brands develop differentiation strategies in order to stand out from competitors. Yet, is value always gained through differentiation, or is it possible that some value could be forfeited by straying too far from established product category associations? This research examines color norms within product categories and addresses the question of whether visual differentiation is always helpful. With data for 281 top brands, the authors calculate product category color homogeneity scores for 15 product categories and 40 subcategories to empirically explore color norms. Then, these calculations are used in conjunction with brand equity scores to examine the relationship between color differentiation and brand performance. The results show that while color differentiation is helpful for some product categories, it can also be harmful for others. Specifically, the investigation reveals that adhering to color norms may be beneficial for product categories containing a dominant market leader, especially high-involvement categories. The results of this research highlight the existence of visual product category norms, and emphasize both the benefits and risks of visual differentiation should be considered.
The paper develops a composite framework for buying packaging for fashion footwear products that includes logistics, marketing and the Fashion Store Concept. A qualitative survey among eight retail chains in France explores the buying of packaging decision-making process for fashion footwear. Buying of packaging has been recognised as having specific importance for the visual merchandising activity of the retailer as well as the logistics and marketing activities. Clarity of ownership and control is critical to maximising the full potential from the business opportunity that packaging provides as it significantly impacts an integrated approach to buying within a fashion retailer.
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.
Transforming children’s participation food consumption activities
This paper discusses some weaknesses of two frameworks largely implemented in marketing research to describe children’s economic socialization : a Piagetian stage-based perspective, and a process-centered model aiming to explain how children acquire economic behaviours. Studying the way children develop within contemporary mass consumption culture entails a shift towards cultural psychology theory which helps to focus on a key stake : the transformation of children’s participation in different joint consumption activities. How do children move from a peripheral (as users of a product bought by parents, as observers of buying situations) to a central participation (as decision-makers or recognized experts on some categories of foods) ? This approach highlights critical challenges that food marketing faces : on the one hand, it can help to overcome children’s neophobic behaviour ; on the other hand, it may encourage children’s own food choices, hence introducing risks in terms of food transgression or new eating habits dissociated from healthy eating norms.
To determine the nutritional quality of foods advertised with familiar children's characters and health-related messages.
Children's programming aired on the most popular broadcast and cable channels during 2011 was sampled to form a composite weekday and weekend day. All food advertisements (ads) included in this programming were content analyzed.
Five hundred seventy-seven food ads.
Familiar characters promoting products were either trade or licensed characters. A product's nutritional quality was determined using the United States Department of Health and Human Services' categorizations, based on the frequency foods should be consumed. Health cues were present when a food was claimed to be healthy, physical activity was depicted, or the product was associated with fruit.
Frequencies and chi square analyses were conducted; P < .05.
Nearly three quarters (73%) of food ads targeting children use a familiar character. The majority of these ads (72%) promote foods of low nutritional quality, yet 53% employ a health-related message.
Familiar characters proliferate in food advertising to children, yet marketers do not adhere to recommendations that characters promote strictly healthy foods. Future research is needed to investigate effects and inform policy decisions in this realm.
The objective of this work was to study the effects of color on the perception of both sweetness and fruit flavor of different fruit (peach, orange, kiwifruit and berries) beverages. Four samples of each fruit beverage were prepared by adding different colorants but maintaining the same composition. Color was measured using a Hunter Lab colorimeter. Samples of each of the different fruits were ranked for color, sweetness and typical fruit flavor by a group of assessors. Color was found to influence sweetness only in orange drinks but it affected intensity of typical flavor in all fruit drinks.
The effect of color on sweetness perception, flavor intensity, acceptability and thirst quenching was evaluated. The various studies included the development and administration of a questionnaire, preliminary sensory panel studies, three sensory panels of 20 subjects each and finally 3 consumer type taste panels of from 59–121 subjects each.
The questionnaire indicated that consumers thought the sweetest beverages and those colored brown, red and orange would satisfy thirst the most. The association of sweetness with thirst quenching ability was an unexpected result but one that was validated in several of the panel studies which followed.
The preliminary study done with a full factorial design showed that the samples with the lowest levels of acid and sugar as well as a combination of those with the lowest color and lowest sugar provided the greatest perception of thirst quenching.
A series of small sensory panel studies of 20 subjects each allowed the further definition of the most appropriate color space. Samples were then reformulated to achieve this spacing and 3 larger consumer type panels were conducted. Sweetness and perceived ability to quench thirst were found to be significantly affected by color in two of the three panels while flavor intensity and acceptability were found to be significantly affected in only one panel. These results indicate that color is related to quality characteristics other than appearance and should be considered in decisions affecting such characteristics.
Affective factors play an important role in the development and maintenance of preferences. The representation of affect can take a variety of forms, including motor responses and somatic reactions. This explains why cognitive methods of preference change that are directed at only one form of representation have seldom been effective.
Purpose
This paper aims to understand, from a theoretical standpoint and from an empirical perspective, why food products can be designed and perceived as “playful” and “funny”. Drawing on the experiential framework developed in marketing research and recent advances in theories of play, it seeks to clarify the conceptual articulation of “play” with “fun” and it seeks to highlight the need to reconsider the contribution of the product in framing situations that children experience as “playful” and “fun”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper focuses on qualitative data gathered through a combination of observations and in‐depth interviews of 14 dyads “child‐mother” confronted by four product innovations at a prototype stage, and a series of eight focus groups involving children from three to eight years old as well as their mothers.
Findings
Children were very able to categorize food products by appreciating their different degrees of fun. The study led to the identification and coding of 13 key dimensions associated with “playfulness” and “fun” in a food product.
Practical implications
The paper offers a heuristic operational tool to guide marketing managers and R&D teams in their exploration and testing of the possibilities/impossibilities in the association of “playfulness” and “fun” with food products aimed at children.
Originality/value
The research demonstrates that some dimensions which characterize play cannot be directly applied to food products, and differentiates “playful” from “fun” by considering the intensity of the social interaction being developed through the food product or food consumption situation.
Purpose
Health is becoming an increasingly important issue in the UK as well as the rest of Europe. Emphasis on the importance of healthy eating is ongoing for many reasons, including the growing concern about childhood obesity resulting in the ban of advertising of unhealthy foods to children in the UK in April 2007. However, although legislation has been placed upon the advertising of unhealthy food products, no such restrictions have been placed on the packaging of children's foods despite the influence of packaging on consumer buyer decisions. This paper aims to investigate the effect of packaging on children's product preferences and its ability to influence parents' buyer decision in‐store.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was approached from the parents' rather than the children's perspective. A quantitative approach was adopted in data collection, using a 28 item Likert scaled questionnaire administered to 150 parents, with over 95 percent response rate.
Findings
The study shows that packaging does affect the product preferences of children. Also, children are particularly interested in influencing the purchase of unhealthy foods. However, parents within the study claimed that they did not succumb to their children's requests for the purchase of unhealthy food, which contradicts evidence from previous findings.
Research limitations/implications
The claim by parents that they did not succumb to their children's requests for unhealthy food contradicts findings from previous research. This therefore leads to a recommendation for further studies as social desirability bias may have influenced the outcomes of the findings.
Practical implications
Findings from this study can be applied within the retail and service marketing sector to provide the practitioner with information relevant to decision making on children's influence on parents buyer behavior in‐store. Outcomes of the study are also important when considering the future of children's food marketing and tackling the issue of childhood obesity.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates that there is a relationship between packaging and children product preferences and children's influence on parents' buyer decision in‐store.
Emphasises the importance of packaging in influencing the decision to buy, especially in the case of children’s products, since buying decisions are often impulse-driven and/or gift-oriented; the mothers who are usually doing the shopping will be focusing on whether the child will like the product, so that licensed products tend to be favoured. Outlines the PRS Eye-Tracking studies, which allow documentation of what shoppers see - and miss - as they consider displays, product types and individual packages at the point of sale (POS). Assesses packaging and merchandising systems in terms of three main challenges: generating consideration, differentiating from competitors, and closing the sale. Suggests ways to ensure that products are visible and considered for purchase, including placement at eye level, and colour contrast; differentiating products from others by conveying “fun”; and closing sales by clear quick messaging.
This article revises the concept and positioning strategies according to the proposals of different authors. Positioning is related to variables in the marketing mix, and, specifically, to the main subject of this research study—packaging. The theories of different authors with respect to the functions of packaging and its constituent elements are revised and then attention is focused on four of its graphic elements: Color, shape, typography, and image. Within this framework, designer and consumer opinions are presented with the ultimate aim of identifying the associations between different positioning strategies and the different graphic design variables used to define an orange juice packaging.
Investigated the effects of color on the food choices of 120 children (aged 5–9 yrs). Ss were equally distributed among each of the combinations of age; sex; food type (3 types of candies); and color (red, green, yellow, and orange). A significant main effect for color indicated that Ss preferred foods that were red, green, orange, and yellow, in that order. Data document the effect of color on food choice while indicating that preference for color in food items coincides with color preferences in nonfood items. Color was verified to have potential separate and interactive effects with flavor associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Perceived sweetness and redness in five red colored solutions containing 0.25–5.0% FD&C Red 40 were quantified using magnitude estimation. Three panels of 14 subjects each evaluated solutions containing five sucrose concentrations ranging from 2.7–5.3%. Color had a statistically significant effect (p≤0.05) on sweetness perception in 80% of the treatments. Sweetness in darker colored solutions was 2–10% greater than the lighter reference when the actual sucrose concentration was 1% less. Sweetness increased linearly over all sucrose concentrations and over a narrow range of color intensities. Color was measured using the Gardner XL-23 Colorimeter and the G.E. Recording Spectrophotometer. All color measurements were converted to L*, a*, b* and the value arctan (a*/b*) - used to represent color intensity. The perception of increasing color intensity was a linear power law function of arctan (a*/b*).
In this paper, consumer environmental choice is studied by analysing the relative importance of green packaging when compared with other relevant product attributes. The empirical study is based on a choice-based conjoint analysis of preferences for functional drink products of a sample of 330 consumers using these products. Our choice-based approach on environmental behaviour brings new insights to previous research, which predominantly relies on attitude models. Results indicate that consumers differ in their preferences for packaging, brand, price and convenience of use of daily products. In addition, various distinctive consumer segments can be identified on the market. Contrary to several previous studies, we found that the largest consumer segment, one-third of consumers, favoured environmentally labelled packaging as the most important criteria in their choice. The findings emphasize the increasing importance of ethical and environmental dimension in product choices. We also propose that the attention in environmental consumer research should be shifted from general attitude studies towards the study of actual product choices.