Studying the influence of package shape and colour on consumer expectations of milk desserts using word association and conjoint analysis

Food packaging plays a major role in attracting consumer attention and generating sensory and hedonic expectations; which could affect their product perception and purchase decisions. In the present study word association and conjoint analysis were used to study the influence of package shape and colour on consumer expectations of milk desserts. Six images of milk dessert packages with different colour and shape were presented to 105 consumers, who were asked to complete a word association task and to score their expected liking and willingness to purchase the desserts. Both package shape and colour affected consumers expected liking scores and their sensory expectations regarding the desserts. Consumers associations were mainly related to sensory characteristics. Both methodologies provided an interesting insight on the consumer's expectations generated by the packages and could be useful in order to design packages which create appropriate expectations regarding the product. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.