How to ruin the taste of a cookie with just two words
Negative labels influence consumer perception of food, study finds

Date:
January 26, 2022
Source:
Ohio State University
Summary:
A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a chocolate chip
cookie labeled 'consumer complaint' won't taste as good as the exact
same product described as 'new and improved,' a new study suggests.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a chocolate chip
cookie labeled "consumer complaint" won't taste as good as the exact
same product described as "new and improved," a new study suggests.


========================================================================== Researchers labeled identical saltine crackers and chocolate chip cookies
as either "new and improved," "factory typical" or "consumer complaint"
for the study, and then asked participants to taste the food samples
and judge each on likability, freshness and a range of other qualities.

The crackers and cookies labeled "consumer complaint" received
significantly lower overall liking ratings than the samples labeled "new
and improved." This held true for both saltines -- a neutral example --
and the cookies, which the researchers considered an inherently positive
food.

"We had both negative and positive bias -- but the negative bias was
much bigger. That negative context had more impact than saying 'new and improved' had on generating better ratings," said Christopher Simons,
associate professor of food science and technology at The Ohio State
University and senior author of the study.

"On one hand, it's not surprising. On the other hand, the degree of the
impact was really surprising." The research is published in the journal
Food Quality and Preference.



==========================================================================
An estimated 70 to 80% of new food products fail, even when consumer
testing has suggested they should be successful, Simons said -- which is
a sign that the methods used to gauge potential customer support might
need an upgrade.

"One thing my lab's really interested in is trying to better understand
and be able to predict consumer behavior," he said. "Currently, companies
use humans as an instrument to better understand the sensory properties of foods and how they drive liking. We're trying to understand our instrument
so we can build a better one that may help reduce product failures and
help companies deliver products that people actually want." The study
tested the impact of food labeling on the human predisposition to find
negative experiences more significant and memorable, but also underscored
the tendency for people to be skeptical of claims that a product is
better just because it's labeled "new and improved." The researchers
recruited 120 participants aged 18 to 70 from a database of panelists
from Ohio State's Sensory Evaluation Center. Samples of two crackers or
cookies -- from the same packaging sleeve -- were placed on three plates.

Researchers told participants they would be evaluating a major supplier's current typical factory sample, a new and improved prototype and a sample
that had received customer complaints.

After each bite, participants indicated their overall liking of the sample
on a 9-point scale from "dislike extremely" to "like extremely." They
also completed additional ratings of positive and negative attributes
that assessed, for example, how crisp and fresh the crackers were and
the intensity of the cookies' flavor.



==========================================================================
The results showed a clear influence of the labeling on consumer
perception.

With both foods, the overall liking scores were significantly lower for
samples labeled "consumer complaint" compared to "new and improved." With
the saltines, the complaint scores were also significantly lower
than ratings for the crackers labeled "factory typical." In addition, participants generally gave the "consumer complaint" crackers and cookies
fewer marks for positive qualities and more hits for negative attributes.

"With the negative contextualized messaging, there were more negative attributes selected -- people didn't like it as much, it wasn't as fresh.

People had a more negative opinion of it," Simons said. "The positive
messaging slanted toward being more positive, but not nearly as much."
There could be a lesson here for product developers, Simons said. Rather
than optimizing positive attributes for a new product idea, perhaps
there would be value in teasing out what customers perceive as negative
and adjusting accordingly.

"If people are more sensitive to those taints, we can use it to our
advantage as it relates to food," he said. "You get a bigger bang
for your buck by removing things people find negative than you do by
optimizing those positive attributes. Take care of the negatives first
and you're probably going to have a more successful product." This work
was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute
of Food and Agriculture.

Co-authors, all from Ohio State, include Maria Cotter, Morgan Whitecotton
and Devin Peterson.

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always get wrong about diet and exercise. Claim_yours_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Ohio_State_University. Original
written by Emily Caldwell. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Maria T. Cotter, Morgan Whitecotton, Devin G. Peterson,
Christopher T.

Simons. The impact of applied labeling context on consumer
acceptance of differently valenced products. Food Quality and
Preference, 2022; 97: 104491 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104491 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220126090533.htm

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