AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH ON THE INFLUENCE OF PACKAGING DESIGN ON EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO CHOCOLATE

Abstract

Emotions have been generally associated with food products but there has been little research on emotions related to chocolate package. Culturally, emotions may be described in different ways and every culture may have its own sensory lexicon, giving the possibility for feelings to be socially shared. By means of three analyses- sensory, semiotic and statistical – we designed 6 types of chocolate packages which allow chocolate consumers to describe their feelings while watching or consuming chocolate. The objective of this paper was to study the influence of packaging design of chocolate in attracting consumers’ attention and generating hedonic and sensory expectations from a semiotic, statistical and sensory point of view. To demonstrate these, six images of chocolate packages with different design and color were presented to 123 consumers, who were asked to complete a questionnaire and to score their expected liking as against the chocolate presented. The first part of practice is given in experiment 1 and is referred to the perception of its image resulting from the statistical study conducted using a questionnaire applied to a number of 123 people. In the second practice the sensory analysis was performed for six kinds of chocolate: mint chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate with coffee, dark chocolate with orange, luxurious chocolate and white chocolate, using 12 tasters.