Does cute packaging influence the perception of consumers of insect-based products?
Résumé
Entomophagy has significant cultural and psychological barriers. How to improve acceptance rates for this “new product”? This study investigated how different packaging designs affected consumers' perception and expected acceptance of bread and chips made with cricket flour. 471 consumers were divided into two groups, 239 for bread (80 French, 80 Brazilian, and 79 Colombian) and 232 for chips (80 French, 80 Brazilian, and 72 Colombian). Participants evaluated cute and neutral packaging design versions of the same bread and chips. An online questionnaire was used for each product to assess 1) the intention to purchase the products, 2) how much fun consumers would expect that eating a bread/chips made from cricket flour would be, 3) the expect like the products, 4) how tasty they expect the products to be, and 5) how healthy they expect the products to be. Participants answered the questions using 9-point scales. Results for the bread showed that the cute design influenced how much fun it would be expected eating the product made with cricket flour, and the highest average was reported by French consumers. Regarding the expected acceptance and how tasty the product would be, there was no difference between French and Brazilian consumers, both had higher averages compared to Colombians. The packaging design had a greater impact on the chips, and the cute version obtained the highest averages, except for the perception of healthiness was not influenced; however, the Brazilians showed higher average for this issue. When splitting the dataset across the three countries, French consumers had a greater fun and acceptance in consuming an insect-based chips. In brief, a cute packaging may influence the perception of consumers towards a more enjoyable experience of insect-based food products, especially in countries where they are more common and available in the market, such as in France.