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Hegemonic masculinities and femininities in food industry packaging
Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyze the formal and graphic elements around the hegemonic masculinities and femininities of the packaging of industrial bakery and biscuit products aimed at children and young people. A content analysis was conducted on 10 of the most widely consumed brands of industrial bakery and biscuit products in Spain and widely present on the international market. In addition, a scale of dominant masculinity was developed as a tool to analyze the most egalitarian narratives on the packaging. The results suggest that there are unequal narratives linked to hegemonic masculinity and femininity. The use of blue and yellow, the latter not having a traditional link to masculinity, is related to men in terms of aggressiveness and bravery stereotypes. The women represented on packaging with these same colours are presented in terms of sympathy or kindness, as well as stereotypes connected to beauty. The products contain homogeneous stereotypes and are associated more with men than with women. However, 2 out of 10 brands do not insert characters linked to sexual attributes or gender stereotypes. Therefore, our findings suggest that hegemonic gender scripts are inscribed on packaging less obviously than in other traditional media.
... Estos estudios suelen emplear ensayos controlados aleatorios para evaluar el impacto de los diferentes tipos de mensajes (p. ej., los que presentan pérdidas frente a los que generan ganancias) en las decisiones de compra (Curone-Prieto et al., 2023). ...
Introducción: Esta investigación ofrece una revisión bibliográfica sistemática de los trabajos más relevantes sobre packaging en la industria alimentaria publicados en la última década, con el fin de destacar las líneas de investigación y temas pendientes, especialmente desde el interés de los profesionales de la comunicación. Metodología: Se analizaron registros de Web of Science, predominando estudios realizados en Europa, con un enfoque de investigación mixto que incluye entrevistas, experimentos de campo, encuestas, observación y cuantificación de elementos visuales. Resultados: Los temas más recurrentes en la literatura analizan la toma de decisiones de los consumidores a través de envases y advertencias nutricionales. Discusión: El estudio evidencia la necesidad de revisar las categorías en las que se indexan estos artículos en las bases de datos y destaca la falta de investigaciones que aborden el diseño de packaging desde una perspectiva comunicativa. Conclusiones: Se sugiere ampliar la investigación sobre packaging en la industria alimentaria, enfocándose en el diseño desde una perspectiva comunicacional, para cubrir los vacíos identificados en la literatura.
Background In this paper we analyse the novel The End of Eddy by Édouard Louis. The motivation for this paper is Bourdeau’s (2020) observation that Louis’s book explores working class politics, sexuality, and masculinity. Methods We analysed the amendment through narrative content analysis, the application of which allows us to answer the following question: Édouard Louis’s novel The End of Eddy: A representation of hegemonic masculinity? Results We conclude that this narrative is built on contradictions that can be summarized as a conflict between a socio-cultural norm anchored in a French village and a person who does not fulfil this concept, who is outside of it. We believe that hegemonic masculinity, that is, one part of the cultural norm of a given village, causes Eddy’s inclination or consciousness of homonationalism. Thus, on the one hand, hegemonic masculinity is undoubtedly present in this novel; on the other hand, it forms a kind of background or socio-cultural environment which, although it defines itself against the given, unconsciously causes the “birth of the conscious homosexual”. Conclusions Thus, we dare to claim that the narrative under analysis is not only a representation of hegemonic masculinity, but also an accentuation of its external and internal influence on one’s own perception of (sexual) difference.
Background
In this paper we analyse the novel The End of Eddy by Édouard Louis. The motivation for this paper is Bourdeau’s (2020) observation that Louis’s book explores working class politics, sexuality, and masculinity.
Methods
We analysed the amendment through narrative content analysis, the application of which allows us to answer the following question: Édouard Louis’s novel The End of Eddy: A representation of hegemonic masculinity?
Results
We conclude that this narrative is built on contradictions that can be summarized as a conflict between a socio-cultural norm anchored in a French village and a person who does not fulfil this concept, who is outside of it. We believe that hegemonic masculinity, that is, one part of the cultural norm of a given village, causes Eddy’s inclination or consciousness of homonationalism. Thus, on the one hand, hegemonic masculinity is undoubtedly present in this novel; on the other hand, it forms a kind of background or socio-cultural environment which, although it defines itself against the given, unconsciously causes the “birth of the conscious homosexual”.
Conclusions
Thus, we dare to claim that the narrative under analysis is not only a representation of hegemonic masculinity, but also an accentuation of its external and internal influence on one’s own perception of (sexual) difference.
Gendered identities are communicated in places as frequent and ordinary as food packaging, becoming mundane features of everyday life as they sit on supermarket shelves, in cupboards and on office desks. Multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) allows us to investigate how such identities are buried in packaging in relation to health and fitness. Despite observed broader changes in gendered representations of the body in advertising, in particular relating to the arrival of ‘power femininity’, the products analysed in this article are found to carry fairly traditional and prototypical gender representations, and products marketed at both men and women highlight the need for more precise body management. For women, however, this precision is related to managing the demands of everyday life, packaged as a moral imperative to be healthy, responsible and successful.
Purpose: Todays, advertising intensity is different among various types of market structure. In other words, concentration as an important indicator of market structure plays significant role in the firms’ decision about the amount of advertising expenditures. This study aims at analyzing the relationship between competition index (concentration) and advertising in the Iranian food and beverage industries.
Methodology: Using a panel of 22 four-digit Iranian food and beverage industries, this study analyses the relationship between advertising intensity and concentration over the period 2007– 2019.
Findings: The results show that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between the advertising intensity and concentration. Also, the profitability has negative and export intensity has positive and significant effects on the advertising intensity.
Originality/Value: The structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm suggests that performance of the industry is affected by the conduct of the participants in the market, which is influenced by the companies’ market structure.
Postfeminist media culture celebrates female bodies as a source of identity and power and calls for women to engage in work on the physical and psychological self. This paper offers a critical analysis of marketing by Flat Tummy Co., a company that sells appetite suppressant products to women with the promise of achieving slim ideals. We collated 270 photos and 98 slogans from Flat Tummy Co.’s Instagram account. Our analysis identified three interpretive repertoires: be fit even though you’re lazy; be thin even though you binge; be empowered even though you’re weak. These repertoires set up an impossible dilemma between ideals and “reality”. Flat Tummy Co. claim to resolve this dilemma by offering products that tell women there is no need for work on the body and self. We conceptualise this rhetoric as Erasure of Labour, where socially desirable goals are ostensibly achieved without associated work. Whilst Erasure of Labour solutions are presented as freeing and simple, we argue they are a potentially harmful illusion. Our critical analysis will equip consumers and feminist activists with a means to evaluate and resist these seductive marketing messages. We conclude by encouraging researchers to look for Erasure of Labour rhetoric in other domains.
Previous research has emphasized the importance of product packaging to consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions, but empirical studies that explore the specific mechanisms by which packaging color influences marketing‐relevant downstream variables in relation to environmentally friendly products is scarce. The current research addresses this gap by building on insights from theories on consumption values, gender roles, and gendered products. In two studies, the current research shows (1) how color‐induced perceptions of masculinity can trigger perceived product effectiveness and purchase intentions, (2) how competing mediation through masculinity and perceived fit with the product category influences perceived product effectiveness and purchase intentions for green products, and (3) that the positive influence of masculinity on perceived product effectiveness holds for male but not female consumers. These effects occur independently of color saturation and product positioning for two different product categories where strength and durability are relevant: washing detergents (Study 1) and motor oil (Study 2). The results of this research add a novel and differentiated perspective on the effects of color and gender roles in the context of environmentally friendly consumption and provide marketing managers with suggestions on how to increase perceived product effectiveness and purchase intentions related to green products.
Background:
Few longitudinal studies examine the response to beverage taxes, especially among regular sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumers.
Objective:
This study aimed to examine changes in objectively measured beverage purchases associated with the Philadelphia beverage tax on sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages.
Methods:
A longitudinal quasi-experiment was conducted with adult sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumers in Philadelphia (n = 306) and Baltimore (n = 297; a nontaxed comparison city). From 2016 to 2017 participants submitted all food and beverage receipts during a 2-wk period at: baseline (pretax) and 3, 6, and 12 mo posttax (91.0% retention; data analyzed in 2019). Linear mixed effects models were used to assess the difference-in-differences in total purchased ounces (fl oz) of taxed beverages in a 2-wk period in Philadelphia compared with Baltimore. Secondary analyses: 1) excluded weeks that contained major holidays at baseline and 12 mo (42% of measured weeks at baseline and 12 mo) because policy implementation timing necessitated data collection during holidays when SSB demand may be more inelastic, and 2) aggregated posttax time points to address serial correlation and low power.
Results:
There were no statistically significant changes in purchased ounces of taxed beverages in Philadelphia compared with Baltimore in the primary analysis. After excluding holiday purchasing, the tax was associated with statistically significant reductions of taxed beverage purchases at 3 and 6 mo (-157.1 ounces, 95% CI: -310.1, -4.1 and -175.1 ounces, 95% CI: -328.0, -22.3, respectively) but not 12 mo. Analyses aggregating all 6 wk of posttax time points showed statistically significant reductions (-203.7 ounces, 95% CI: -399.6, -7.8).
Conclusions:
A sweetened beverage tax was not associated with reduced taxed beverage purchases among SSB consumers 12 mo posttax in the full sample. Both secondary analyses excluding holiday purchasing or aggregating posttax time periods found reductions in taxed beverage purchases ranging from -4.9 to -12.5 ounces per day. Larger longitudinal studies are needed to further understand tax effects.
Child-targeted food marketing is a significant public health concern, prompting calls for its regulation. Product packaging is a powerful form of food marketing aimed at children, yet no published studies examine the range of literature on the topic or the “power” of its marketing techniques. This study attempts such a task. Providing a systematic scoping review of the literature on child-targeted food packaging, we assesses the nutritional profile of these foods, the types of foods examined, and the creative strategies used to attract children. Fifty-seven full text articles were reviewed. Results identify high level trends in methodological approaches (content analysis, 38%), outcomes measured (exposure, 44%) and with respect to age. Studies examining the nutritional profile of child-targeted packaged foods use various models, classifying from anywhere from 41% to 97% of products as unhealthy. Content analyses track the prevalence of child-targeted techniques (cartoon characters as the most frequently measured), while other studies assess their effectiveness. Overall, this scoping review offers important insights into the differences between techniques tracked and those measured for effectiveness in existing literature, and identifies gaps for future research around the question of persuasive power—particularly when it comes to children’s age and the specific types of techniques examined.
Visual elements of packaging design serve as a powerful, cost-efficient tool for manufacturers and retailers alike to communicate sensory features of the product to consumers and influence their consumption behaviors. Based on studies of packaging design, cross-modal correspondences, and food science, this research establishes a “packaging visual-gustatory correspondence effect” whereby the image of a food product placed at the bottom (vs. top) of the package façade enhances consumers’ expectations (Study 1A) and actual perceptions (Study 1B) of the food’s flavor heaviness. Further, this effect carries over to help consumers make healthier eating decisions such as eating less of the food (Study 2) and subsequently choosing a healthier snack (Study 3). This research also shows that the packaging visual-gustatory correspondence effect is moderated by consumers’ processing style such that those who engage in holistic (vs. analytic) processing are more affected by the location of the food image on the package façade (Study 4). Our theoretically novel findings are also conducive to addressing the self-control dilemma: The location of the food image on the package façade can serve to increase flavor perception but decrease consumption quantity.
Keywords: Visual-gustatory correspondence, Product image location, Flavor heaviness, Food consumption, Holistic versus analytic processing
The snacking prevalence, frequency of daily snack consumption, and the contribution of snacks to daily energy intake have substantially increased globally. The aim of this study was to examine the patterns of snack consumption among a representative sample of Canadians aged 2 and older. Nationally representative dietary data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) conducted in 2015 (n = 19,677 participants aged ≥2 years) were used to describe snacking patterns. In all, 80.4% of Canadians reported consuming at least one snack per day, which varied between different age groups from 77.0% (≥55 years) to 96.4% (2–5 years). About 37% of snack consumers reported only one snack episode per day but nearly 10% reported four or more episodes of snacking. Snacking contributed to nearly 23% of total daily energy intake in Canadians, which was highest among younger children (27%) and lowest among older adults (20.8%). There were no significant differences in obesity measures comparing snack consumers and non-consumers in children and adults. Snacking considerably contributes to total nutrient and energy intake of Canadians. Promoting nutrient-dense snacks provides an opportunity to improve overall diet quality.
Background: Between 2014 and 2015 a second National Food Consumption Survey was conducted in Belgium in order to evaluate the habitual food consumption in the general Belgian population and to compare it with food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) and results of the 2004 Food Consumption Survey.
Methods: A representative sample of the Belgian population was randomly selected from the National Population Register following a multistage stratified sampling procedure. Information on dietary intake was collected from 3146 subjects between 3 and 64 year old through two non-consecutive 24-hour dietary recalls using GloboDiet®. In addition, a self-administered food frequency questionnaire was completed. The distribution of habitual food consumptions and proportion of persons who did not meet the recommendations were estimated with SPADE.
Results: For most of food groups analysed, the habitual consumption did not comply with FBDG. The consumption of nutrient-poor and energy-dense foods (e.g. alcohol, soft drinks and snacks) was excessive (35% of total energy intake), while the consumption of most other food groups was below the minimum recommended. A large majority of the population had an inadequate consumption of dairy products (98%), vegetables (95%), fruit (91%), potatoes, rice and pasta (88%) bread and cereals (83%) and water and sugar-free drinks (73%). Males had higher consumption of most food groups than females, thereby complying more often with FBDG. For all food groups, except dairy products and fruit, the consumption increased with age. The proportion of individuals meeting FBDG was the highest among young children (3-5 years) and the worst among adolescents aged 14-17 years old. Habitual consumption remained stable between 2004 and 2014 in the population aged 15-64 years old for all food groups except for increased consumption of water and sugar-free drinks (1180 to 1289 g/d) and decreased consumption of spreadable and cooking fat (27 to 19 g/d), red meat (34 to 25 g/d) and bread and cereals (173 to 142 g/d).
Conclusions: The habitual food consumption of the Belgian population (3-64 years) in 2014-2015 deviates largely from FBDG, particularly among adolescents aged between 14 and 17 years old. Few improvements were observed between 2004 and 2014 in the population between 15 and 64 years old. Further efforts are therefore necessary to improve dietary habits in Belgium, in order to prevent and reduce diet-related diseases.
Mass-produced consumer packages are everyday objects that almost go unnoticed. However, by claiming things such as the essence of femininity or masculinity, they affect us and are co-creators of our reality. Based on visual ethnography, this article traces the representation of gender on mass-produced packaging during a time when male privilege is being challenged and female visual objectification is being questioned. The chosen products all have an intimate relationship with body care and the body’s functions. On some of the packaging, the biological differences between women and men are presented as scientific facts. On other examples, such as perfume packaging, gender is represented as decoupled from the body and part of an enjoyable choice of identity, as multiple, fragmented, and fluid. Such representations conceal power differences by making gender into a matter of consumer choice, while also illustrating the constantly changing nature of gender. Gender and package design are entangled processes that affect and change with each other.
The present commentary contains a clear and simple guide designed to identify ultra-processed foods. It responds to the growing interest in ultra-processed foods among policy makers, academic researchers, health professionals, journalists and consumers concerned to devise policies, investigate dietary patterns, advise people, prepare media coverage, and when buying food and checking labels in shops or at home. Ultra-processed foods are defined within the NOVA classification system, which groups foods according to the extent and purpose of industrial processing. Processes enabling the manufacture of ultra-processed foods include the fractioning of whole foods into substances, chemical modifications of these substances, assembly of unmodified and modified food substances, frequent use of cosmetic additives and sophisticated packaging. Processes and ingredients used to manufacture ultra-processed foods are designed to create highly profitable (low-cost ingredients, long shelf-life, emphatic branding), convenient (ready-to-consume), hyper-palatable products liable to displace all other NOVA food groups, notably unprocessed or minimally processed foods. A practical way to identify an ultra-processed product is to check to see if its list of ingredients contains at least one item characteristic of the NOVA ultra-processed food group, which is to say, either food substances never or rarely used in kitchens (such as high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or interesterified oils, and hydrolysed proteins), or classes of additives designed to make the final product palatable or more appealing (such as flavours, flavour enhancers, colours, emulsifiers, emulsifying salts, sweeteners, thickeners, and anti-foaming, bulking, carbonating, foaming, gelling and glazing agents).
En los últimos años han ido surgiendo gran diversidad de productos nuevos en el sector de la bollería infantil, pero existen otros que llevan mucho tiempo en nuestra vida diaria. Pese a ser más los que han fracasado que los que se mantienen, resulta crucial analizar cómo ha evolucionado su publicidad a lo largo del tiempo, sabiendo adaptarse a los gustos de diferentes generaciones de consumidores. Entre los clientes y los consumidores ha surgido claramente un movimiento de preocupación y concienciación por los ingredientes que componen los alimentos. Debido al cambio de actitud y a la proliferación de asociaciones de defensa de los derechos del consumidor, se ha llevado a cabo una evolución en este tipo de productos, tanto a nivel de producción como a nivel comunicativo. A través del análisis de contenido de los mensajes de sus spots y de un grupo de discusión, se ha procedido a realizar un estudio comparativo de los mismos entre la década del ochenta y los spots de los últimos años para ver su evolución.
The aim of this paper is to analyze a speciic printed advertisement from two
different semiotic points of view. First, we apply the interpretative instruments
provided by the Barthes’ school of thinking ( focused on the description of
e xplicit signs taken in isolation). We then attempt to explore the same print
employing the prospective of Greimas’ structural semiotics (where a sign has
meaning only when it is interpreted as part of a system). Integrating different
semiotics theories, we show how they can be used synergistically
It is commonly believed that reddish colour induces warm feelings while bluish colour induces cold feelings. We, however, demonstrate an opposite effect when the temperature information is acquired by direct touch. Experiment 1 found that a red object, relative to a blue object, raises the lowest temperature required for an object to feel warm, indicating that a blue object is more likely to be judged as warm than a red object of the same physical temperature. Experiment 2 showed that hand colour also affects temperature judgment, with the direction of the effect opposite to object colours. This study provides the first demonstration that colour can modulate temperature judgments when the temperature information is acquired by direct touch. The effects apparently oppose the common conception of red-hot/blue-cold association. We interpret this phenomenon in terms of "Anti-Bayesian" integration, which suggests that the brain integrates direct temperature input with prior expectations about temperature relationship between object and hand in a way that emphasizes the contrast between the two.
This study provides a theoretical grounding from social anthropology and psychoanalysis into the use of animal symbolism in marketing communications. The study analyses the adoption of animal symbols in brand communications, and considers these as either implicitly anthropomorphic (totemic) or explicitly anthropomorphic (fetishist). Contemporary advertising messages, as they become more visual, indirect, and implicit in their content (Phillips & McQuarrie, 2002), continue to employ animal symbols. Such integration of animal symbols serves to activate and connect archetypal associations automatically in consumers’ minds, thereby enabling them to activate the cultural schema that the brand represents. The effective application of cultural schema associated with a brand contributes to brand engagement and thereby to brand equity.
In this paper, we describe an exhibition on gendered artifacts we have organized in the Netherlands and Norway. The major aim of the exhibition was to show the public the ways in which technical objects are inscribed with gender; this in order to make people aware that we live in a technological and gendered culture. Reflecting on our experiences with the exhibition, we discuss the two different approaches to theorizing the gendering of artifacts underlying the Dutch and the Norwegian version of the exhibition: the genderscript approach and the domestication approach. We conclude that the gendering of artifacts can be understood only by representing designers as well as users as active participants in the social construction of artifacts. Designers are important by shaping the initial forms, functions, and meanings of objects. Users, by their different ways of interpreting, using and talking about technologies, further contribute to their social shaping. They define whether they experience things as gendered and whether they find them useful in articulating and performing their (gender) identities. By interpreting and using technologies, users are thus active participants in shaping the gendering of artifacts.
This article explores possibilities for establishing dialogues between feminism and constructivism in the field of technology studies. Based on an overview of Norwegian feminist debates about technology, it indicates several points where feminism and constructivism meet and can mutually benefit from each other. The article critically examines feminist studies questioning the problems of technological determinism, social determinism, and essentialism. It criticizes constructivism for a lack of concern for gender and politics but holds that it is still possible to use theoretical tools from constructivism in feminist analyses. Fruitful dialogues require the application of the principle of symmetry to the dialogues and sharing some common ground and mutual recognition of each other's strengths and weaknesses.
A content analysis of eight different men’s lifestyle magazines sold in Canada between November 2004 and August 2006 was conducted
to explore how masculinities are currently being portrayed in regards to the body, aesthetics and grooming, and fashion. Findings
suggest that different men’s magazines represent different forms of masculinity but elements of hegemonic masculinity (culturally
normative ideals of masculinity within a structure of social relations where some men are subordinated) are woven throughout.
Although the marketed look varies by the magazine, these magazines not only convey the message that appearance can be manipulated—but
it should also be enhanced, and that men should engage in bodywork in order to attain the lifestyle they desire.
KeywordsHegemonic masculinity-Metrosexuality-Laddism-Male body-Aesthetics-Fashion-Male body image
Background:
Trends in junk food consumption, a risk for obesity, are not well established.
Objectives:
We examined national trends in types of junk food (excluding beverages) and their sources (grocery, restaurants, schools, etc.), overall and in population subgroups.
Methods:
We assessed 29,970 children (aged 2-19 y) and 44,501 adults (aged ≥20 y) with 24-h dietary recall data from 9 NHANES cycles (2001-2002 to 2017-2018). Trends in junk food were assessed over time using 1-d values for individuals with single recalls and 2-d means for others.
Results:
From 2001 to 2018, percent energy (%E) from junk food remained stable for children (from 18.1% to 17.5%, P-trend = 0.25) and decreased for adults (14.1% to 13.0%, P-trend = 0.002). Among children, increases occurred in %E from crackers (1.19% to 1.35%) and snack/meal bars (0.38% to 0.69%) and decreases in candy (2.58% to 1.96%) and other desserts (3.11% to 2.48%) (all P-trends < 0.01). Among adults, increases occurred in snack/meal bars (0.31% to 0.78%, P-trend < 0.001) and decreases in candy (1.97% to 1.55%; P-trend < 0.001), sweet bakery products (5.52% to 4.98%; P-trend = 0.04), and other desserts (2.19% to 1.86%; P-trend = 0.001). In 2017-2018, grocery stores provided the largest proportion of junk food (72.7% for children, 77.1% for adults), followed by other sources (13.1%, 12.1%), restaurants (8.05%, 9.11%), schools (4.86%), and worksites (1.99%). In both children and adults, junk food intake was higher among non-Hispanic white and black Americans compared with Mexican Americans, among those with higher compared with lower education, among women compared with men, and among older compared with younger adults. In sensitivity analyses using only 1-d recalls, mean junk food intake each cycle was ∼0.8-1.0 and 0.3-0.4%E units higher in children and adults, respectively, with otherwise similar trends and subgroup differences over time.
Conclusions:
From 2001 to 2018, %E from junk food represented nearly 1 in 5 calories among children, without change, and nearly 1 in 7 calories, with modest decrease, among adults, with disparities in subgroups.
Are women and men critical of the way they are shown in ads, and how does this affect their attitudes toward products?
This study reports trends in role portrayals of male and female characters in television commercials between 1971 and 1976. Several comparisons are made between portrayals in TV commercials and roles in U.S. population. The authors conclude that marketers and society have begun to accept the changing role of women.
While much attention has been given to critiquing sexism and stereotyping in advertising texts, less weight is afforded to examining the gendered opinions and worldviews of the practitioners who create such texts and even less focus on such attitudes as held by advertising students—the next generation of advertisers. This paper is concerned with exploring advertising students’ attitudes towards representations of the sexes in adverts, and how this may reflect their gendered opinions more generally. Analysing individual, semi-structured student interviews (n = 12) reveals that, while there was widespread acknowledgement that sexual objectification of women in advertising remains prevalent, there was a discursive turn towards a concern for men and boys, and assertions that misandry has emerged as a concerning and unwelcome trend in advertising imagery and texts. This was bolstered by a less prevalent theme; one which lauds the figure of the “tomboy” and thereby serves to privilege the male experience.
How do food companies use package design to communicate healthfulness? The present study addresses this question by investigating the most typical implicit package design elements used by food companies for their health‐positioned food products. Using a content analysis on the packaging design of 12 food product categories across two countries (Denmark and the United States), our findings indicate that (a) implicit package design elements (colors, imagery, material, and shape) differ between health‐positioned and regular products, and (b) these differences are product category specific rather than universal. Our results contribute to knowledge on how package design is used as a health communication tool.
The Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing offers both basic and advanced treatments intended to serve academics, students, and marketing research professionals. The 42 chapters begin with a history of qualitative methods in marketing by Sidney Levy and continue with detailed discussions of current thought and practice in: research paradigms such as grounded theory and semiotics,. research contexts such as advertising and brands, data collection methods such as projectives and netnography, data analysis methods such as metaphoric and visual analyses, presentation topics such as videography and reflexivity, applications such as ZMET applied to Broadway plays and depth interviews with executives, special issues such as multi-sited ethnography and research on sensitive topics.
In this work we examine the interactive effect of packaging design and explicit packaging cues on quality inferences. Although the effect of explicit cues on product perception has been studied extensively, systematic research on this topic is still in its infancy. Furthermore, it has never been investigated whether design cues and explicit cues interact with each other in eliciting product inferences. Gaining knowledge about these effects is important, because in real-life situations consumers are predominantly exposed to product packaging that contains both subtle and explicit cues. In this work we examine how value – a dimension of colour that is related to “darker” versus “lighter” colours – affects product inferences. Two studies demonstrate that consumers use value as a cue to make product quality related inferences. Furthermore, we examine how consumers make product quality interferences when packaging design cues are congruent and incongruent with explicit quality cues. Based on Cue Consistency Theory (Maheswaran & Chaiken, 1991; Miyazaki, Grewal, & Goodstein, 2005) and information diagnosticity, we predicted that packaging design cues only affect quality inferences when they are congruent with explicit cues. Contrary to Cue Consistency Theory, results indicate that overall, packaging design affects quality inferences independently from explicit attribute cues. They emphasize the communicative power of packaging design, and value in particular.
The visual design of food packages can activate heuristic inferences which in turn shape consumer perception and judgment of salient content. Focusing on two core design elements (typeface and color), this paper demonstrates that visual cues conveying weight (or a lack thereof) influence consumers’ healthiness perceptions, explicitly as well as implicitly. Study 1 reveals that package design elements that differ in weight perception evoke divergent health perceptions of a soft drink. This effect is moderated by consumers’ health promotion focus for typeface, but not for color. Following up on this finding, Study 2 elaborates on the typeface manipulation using an Implicit Association Test to show that the interaction between health promotion focus and typeface weight accounts for implicit associations between sugary foods and healthiness. Together, the two studies provide initial evidence for the influence of design cues differing in heaviness on food healthiness perceptions. The findings add to the literature on health perception and attest to the importance of package design for influencing consumer responses.
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.
Résumé
Alors que la construction sociale des différences sexuelles entre hommes et femmes est remise en question dans la société, le champ économique accentue cette distinction en proposant toujours plus de produits différenciés selon l’identité sexuelle du groupe de consommateurs ciblé. Cette différenciation selon le genre est particulièrement sensible dans le cas de produits qui demeurent identiques dans leur principe actif mais dont seuls des aspects extérieurs, comme l’odeur ou surtout l’emballage, varient — dont le gel douche constitue un cas d’école. Une enquête menée auprès de quarante personnes a permis de mettre en évidence des acquis sociaux dans les codes marketing de distinction de genre sur le marché du gel douche, comme les odeurs et les couleurs qui seraient associées à chaque sexe, mais aussi un écart entre les goûts réellement exprimés et les cibles du marketing. Cette différenciation des produits sur le marché crée pour les consommateurs une contrainte de genre, à laquelle ils pourront se soumettre, la considérant comme un renforcement de leur identité sexuelle, ou résister, n’y voyant qu’une ruse marketing pour des produits au fond identiques. Cet article vise donc à explorer la façon dont se construit, sur un marché, la différenciation des produits selon le sexe des consommateurs visés, et la réception de cette segmentation par les consommateurs eux-mêmes.
This study was conducted in Turkey (the place is the bridge between Europe and Asia) and several factors that might influence the young consumer's behaviour at the point of sale were highlighted. Self-administered questionnaire consisting of 31 questions were filled out by 324 participants. A big part of respondents (87.34%) were young people between 18 and 25 years of age and majority of the test takers were single (91.05%), whereas only 8.95% of them were married. Relationships and connections between questions were displayed in detail with graphics in a multidimensional space and were analysed with multiple correspondence analysis tests. The results indicated that glass packages attracted the consumers with their protective structure, transparency and healthy nature, whereas plastic and paperboard packages attracted the consumers with their resistance to physical impacts and easy-to-use abilities. The majority of consumers checked the labels to get information; however, consumers indicated that label content was hard to understand. Production, best before dates and ingredients were identified as important information on the labels by consumers. Fat content was chosen as the most important part of labels by female consumers, whereas male consumers were more concerned about the protein content. Participants indicated that low price and special offered products were setting the basis for their unplanned shopping. The obtained results confirmed that packaging attributes and labels were the most important factors that might affect consumers' purchasing behaviours.
Objects may be gender typed by virtue of their use by or association with one sex or the other or because they embody qualities that show a nonliteral or metaphorical correspondence to characteristics of or beliefs about males and females. For Study 1, we developed the Gender Stereotyping Test, a sorting task with which we determined that 4-, 5-, and 7-year-olds make use of both types of information in assigning objects or qualities to each sex. Study 2 replicated results with a new group of 4-year-olds and found that children whose test scores indicated at least some knowledge of gender identity were more likely to gender type metaphorical, but not conventional, items than those whose scores failed to indicate stable and constant knowledge of gender identity. In Study 3, which used a truncated version of the sorting task, children at age 3 made minimal use of either type of information. Gender stereotypes are considered in terms of recent theories of metaphor as a conceptual mechanism by which what is known in or about one domain is projected to another domain for the purpose of understanding.
Although masculinity and femininity are personality traits relevant to brands, their measurement and contribution to branding theory and practice have not been examined. This article describes the development and validation of a two-dimensional scale measuring masculine and feminine brand personality that is discriminant with regard to existing brand personality dimensions and scales measuring masculinity and femininity as human personality traits. This scale is applied to show that (1) spokespeople in advertising shape masculine and feminine brand personality perceptions; (2) brand personality-self-concept congruence in terms of masculine and feminine brand personality and consumers' sex role identity positively influences affective, attitudinal, and behavioral brand-related consumer responses; and (3) masculine and feminine brand personality lends itself to the creation of brand fit in a brand extension context, which in turn leads to more positive brand extension evaluations and increased purchase intentions with regard to the extension.
That women are still stereotyped despite the continuing activism of the women's liberation movement is clearly demonstrated in the following study of a sample of early 1971 network TV ads. Focusing on the advertising viewed in millions of homes during prime‐time, the authors conclude that women are most often seen as decorative (sex objects) or useful (housewives and mothers), but hardly ever as professionals or working wives. Dr. Dominick is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences of Queens University while Miss Rauch is a recent graduate of that department.
The characteristics of adult male and female models in randomly selected television commercials were systematically coded, and several significant sex differences were discovered. More men than women are presented in television commercials, the basis for the credibility of those men and women who are presented differs as do their roles, their location, their arguments on behalf of a product, and the rewards they reap for using a product. These sex differences, which tend to portray women in a relatively unfavorable manner, are discussed in the context of research which suggests that peoples' sex-role behaviors and attitudes may be influenced by televised models.
During the past two decades, the traditional concept of masculinity has been challenged by the pervasive spread of metrosexual attitudes and practices through Western cultures. This article examines an extreme aspect of this trend through a multimodal reading of an online advertisement for male mascara. Using social semiotic theory and methodologies based on functional grammars, the analysis reveals that the advertisement's producers are treading a fine line in their verbal and visual discursive choices, trying to create a dialectic that encourages men to be consumers of feminine-style products while also allowing them to maintain the qualities that have traditionally been gendered as masculine.
Traditional stereotypes found unchanged since studies in early seventies.
Three-yeax study shows more women experts selling products for women but still backed up by the “known quantity” of an authoritative male uoice-over.
This study examines the effects of two types of scarcity on the attitudes of consumers toward products. We consider scarcity due to supply (e.g., “limited edition”) and scarcity due to demand (e.g., “only a few units remain”). The data obtained from two surveys show that the appearance of a positive scarcity effect depends on the product's suitability for conspicuous consumption. If a product is used for conspicuous consumption, signals of scarcity due to limited supply are advantageous compared to signals of scarcity due to high demand. On the contrary, if a product is not used for conspicuous consumption, signals of scarcity due to high demand result in more favorable product evaluations.
To study how people weight information when judging their own and others’ masculinity–femininity (M–F), I asked 170 male and 205 female participants to rate themselves and their best friends on M–F, instrumentality, expressiveness, and gender-typed hobby preferences. Also, each participant judged the M–F of eight fictitious women (or men) described as possessing low or high instrumentality, low or high expressiveness, and hobbies typical of men or women. Regression analyses showed that gender-typed hobby preferences predicted M–F ratings of self and friends more strongly than instrumentality or expressiveness did. Similarly, analyses of participants’ judgments of fictitious people showed that participants weighted gender-typed hobbies more strongly than instrumentality and expressiveness when judging targets’ M–F. All results converged to show that lay people’s judgments of M–F are based more on information about gender-typed interests than on information about instrumentality or expressiveness.
This work presents a systematic analysis of the psychological phenomena associated with the concept of mental representations - also referred to as cognitive or internal representations. A major restatement of a theory the author of this book first developed in his 1971 book (Imagery and Verbal Processes), this book covers phenomena from the earlier period that remain relevant today but emphasizes cognitive problems and paradigms that have since emerged more fully. It proposes that performance in memory and other cognitive tasks is mediated not only by linguistic processes but also by a distinct nonverbal imagery model of thought as well. It discusses the philosophy of science associated with the dual coding approach, emphasizing the advantages of empiricism in the study of cognitive phenomena and shows that the fundamentals of the theory have stood up well to empirical challenges over the years.