Nutrition & Food Science

Emerald Article: The role of visual cues in consumer perception and acceptance of a food product Nazlin Imram

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To cite this document: Nazlin Imram, (1999),"The role of visual cues in consumer perception and acceptance of a food product", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 99 Iss: 5 pp. 224 - 230 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00346659910277650 Downloaded on: 25-03-2012 References: This document contains references to 29 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 2 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 6346 times.

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The role of visual cues in consumer perception and acceptance of a food product
Nazlin Imram

The significance of food product development in the food industry

The food industry in western nations is already a competitive industry which is becoming increasingly more competitive. This is a consequence largely of the general decrease in government subsidies to the food and agricultural industry and of a reduction in the trade barriers which formerly afforded some protection to local food companies (Grunert et al., 1996). In addition, consumer behaviour is becoming increasingly less predictable, more fragmented and less consistent. There is more demand by consumers for value added food products instead of for greater quantities of food. In this highly competitive food market, food companies must keep abreast with current technology and continue to be innovative in developing new processing technology, formulating new food products as well as upgrading existing product lines, in order to thrive. As a result of the greater demand for value added food products, food companies are increasing the research and development of new products and processes. Indeed, food product development is crucial to a food company's ability to meet and sustain consumer demand. There are considerable challenges faced by the product formulator during food product development; these include constraints of finance, manpower, time and the need for continual innovation. The food industry invests the least amount in research and development compared to other industries (Grunert et al., 1996), although this is changing as a consequence of the current trends in market development. Food product development incurs very high costs. Currently, the UK industry has been estimated to invest several million pounds per annum in this area. However, new product development is not an easy path to success for a number of reasons. First, very few new products are successfully formulated. Sloan (1994) estimated a success rate of <1 per cent. Second, food product development is limited by the market willingness to test and accept new or improved food products. Third, the products must be suitable for the market into which they are introduced. Finally, food companies are required to understand more about the market, i.e. be more market oriented. The positive relationship between market

The author Nazlin Imram is a PhD Student at the Department of Applied Consumer Studies, Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, Scotland. Keywords Perception, Food, Consumer attitudes, Taste Abstract Discusses the role appearance plays in influencing consumer perception and subsequent acceptance of a food product. Texture and flavour have long since been known to exert an effect on consumer perception. However, the ``first taste is almost always with the eye''. This is especially the case where a food product is sold through its appearance, rather than through its packaging. In addition, appearance can have a halo effect which modifies subsequent flavour perception and food acceptability. The article also briefly discusses the many factors that affect the perception process and the significance of food product development in the food industry.

Nutrition & Food Science Number 5 . September/October 1999 . pp. 224228 # MCB University Press . ISSN 0034-6659

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orientation and company performance has been reported by several studies (Deshpande et al., 1993; Narver and Slater, 1990; Ruekert, 1992). As an illustration of the problems inherent in new product development, let us consider the introduction of New Coke. This case showed a lack of market orientation which resulted in poor product performance. The beverage company, Coca-Cola, had developed a new product, New Coke, which was given the approval of blind panels. These panels found the New Coke tasted better than the original cola drink. However, this new product failed when it was introduced into the market, apparently because of social factors. Consumers were found to reject the new product because they were more comfortable with the image of the original cola drink and even felt threatened by the introduction of the New Coke. This resulted in the company removing New Coke from the market and maintaining the time tested initial cola drink which was later renamed, Classic Coke. In short, a food company is required to further develop both areas, product development and market orientation, in order to achieve a positional advantage in the food market. Sensory evaluation techniques are important in the product development process. These techniques are employed from the initial planning stages right up to the formulation-reformulation stages leading to full scale production. The formulation procedure, where ingredients are manipulated to achieve specific levels of quality, is one of the most costly stages in the product development process. Mancini (1993) reported that amongst the most pertinent problems faced by the food industry is the reformulation of existing products. Sensory evaluation techniques have to date focused mainly on texture and flavour evaluation. Visual profile techniques are less developed. The role of appearance in food choice should not be under-estimated. However, as illustrated by the Coca-Cola problem, it should be noted that, even though sensory evaluation techniques are important tools for measuring quality cues and sensory preferences of products, a more complete food choice model is required for the thorough testing of the acceptability of a new or reformulated product.

Food quality perception and acceptability

The study of consumer perception of food quality and acceptability is complex and interdisciplinary, encompassing scientific disciplines including food science and technology, nutrition, psychology, physiology, marketing and hospitality. Food possesses physicochemical characteristics arising from ingredients, processing and storage variables resulting in the sensory characteristics of the food product. These sensory properties are detected by consumers using the human senses producing experiences of the appearance, taste, smell and texture of the product. The study of the interaction between these physicochemical properties with the human senses is known as psychophysics. In food science, applied forms of psychophysics are known as sensory evaluation. The sensory attributes of a food product interact with consumer physiological, behavioural and cognitive factors within the consumer experience to exert influence on consumer perception. This interaction is also affected by the context and background, e.g. cultural setting and psychosocial influences in which the consumers encountered the food product which also affects the consumer hedonic response, i.e. the individual feeling of like or dislike, of the consumer. Sensory and hedonic experience interact with postconsumptional experiences to produce responses that feed-back into the consumer physiological state, the learning process and memory building. This process would in turn affect consumer expectation. Expectation can be generated from cues such as packaging, labelling, product information and stereotypes. Thus, consumer food choice is determined by many factors (Figure 1). In the past, food choice factors were individually studied by other disciplines, e.g. psychobiology, social psychology, cognitive psychology, nutrition and marketing. However, recently, the factors involved in food quality perception and acceptance are being studied collectively in sensory science. Sensory science has been described as a meeting place in science, bridging the humanities and the pure sciences.

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Figure 1 Schematic model of food-related behaviours

Importance of appearance attributes on consumer perception and food product acceptance

Perception of a food product has been shown to be affected by many individual factors. These factors include taste, odour, information from labelling and images, attitudes, memory from previous experience, price, prestige, nutritional content, health belief, familiarity and brand loyalty (Krondl and Lau, 1978, 1982; Raats et al., 1995). Sensory attributes have been known to play a significant role in overall perception and acceptance of a food product. It has been well established that the level of pleasantness or unpleasantness of a food product is affected by the intensity of food-related sensory attributes (Cardello, 1994). Texture and flavour have been shown to have a profound effect on perception and acceptability (Szczesniak, 1972). However, ``the first taste is almost always with the eye'', i.e. visual sensations also help contribute to this perception since the first encounter with food products is often visual and will affect subsequent willingness to accept a product. The effect of visual sensations should not be underestimated. Human perception of quality is dependent on the visual image (Hetherington and MacDougall, 1992). It has been well established that colour

and appearance can have a halo effect which modifies subsequent flavour perception and food acceptability (Hutchings, 1994; Kostyla and Clydesdale, 1978). Appearance, flavour and texture are important quality attributes which characterize raw food materials and processed products (Schutz and Wahl, 1981). Kramer and Szczesniak (1973) use a circle diagram to describe the sensory quality of food. In this sensory circle, the perimeter of the circle is divided into three merging zones defined by appearance, flavour and texture. These zones are often regarded as separate and individual characteristics but some properties do overlap indicating that perception can be affected by more than one sense. However, the importance of different product attributes varies with the situation and time. For example, a product seen on a supermarket shelf may have different attributes affecting perception when compared to the same product seen on a plate. The product on a plate would be affected by anticipatory and participatory attributes (Hutchings, 1977). In other words, at the point of consumption, anticipatory factors such as the initial product appearance and also consequent participatory factors such as product flavour and texture may dominate the acceptance level for many foods.

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However, this contrasts with the situation of a food selection task which consumers face in food retail and service outlets in cases where the product itself can be seen. The products on the supermarket or service shelf can only be affected by anticipatory attributes, i.e. visual cues. In this case, appearance then becomes all important and can function as a ``screening mechanism'' before closer examination and purchase (Hutchings, 1994). Consumers must select and buy the food product before consumption. Consumers have strong preference for products with appealing appearances. In a food choice situation, products with the greatest visual appeal would be chosen first (Clydesdale, 1975). Appearance encompasses several basic sensory attributes such as colour, opacity, gloss, visual structure, visual texture and perceived flavour. Of all these visual aspects, the effect of colour is the most obvious and well-studied. The strong association between food and colour was established as early as 1936 by Moir and 1939 by Dunker. Extensive research has confirmed the importance of colour in taste recognition and intensity (Johnson and Clydesdale, 1982; Kostyla, 1978; Maga, 1974), in flavour detection and recognition, in food preference (Christensen, 1983; DuBose et al., 1980) and food acceptability (Johnson and Clydesdale, 1982; Maga, 1974). Consumer perception of an acceptable colour has been shown to be associated with other quality attributes: flavour, nutrition and level of satisfaction (Christensen, 1983). Rolls et al. (1982) showed that manipulation of colour in some products can be used to enhance intake and presumably to enhance sales. The effect can be achieved by manipulation of one or more variables: colour within a formulation, incident light, packaging colour and even colour and appearance nomenclature and brand name (Martin, 1990). In a food service situation, the food products chosen for display and sale by caterers are selected for their colour and appearance attributes. It is these attributes which serve initially to attract consumer attention and later influence the decision on whether to buy or not. In food choice situations, colour and other appearance attributes create the first impression encountered by consumers. Colour has been shown to be of primary importance in the initial

judgement of food, ultimately influencing the acceptance or rejection of the food (Gifford and Clydesdale, 1986). This is most evident in products such as desserts whose acceptability is mainly defined by their visual appeal. Additionally, colour and other appearance attributes contribute along with flavour and texture in consumer product assessment after purchase, thus influencing ``continued purchase''. It can be concluded that visual sensory properties are, thus, of critical importance, especially in situations where the products are sold primarily through appearance properties rather than through packaging.

References
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