The Influence of Congruency between Package Color and Shape on Perceived Healthiness of Food

Abstract

People nowadays live a fast-paced life so they often need to purchase among a variety of products quickly The appearance of package exerts important influences on a consumer’s decision Prior literature has identified that both package color and shape serve as visual cues influencing consumers’ perceptions of food healthiness However it is still unclear whether the interaction between color and shape lead to unexpected health perception Therefore this study aims to understand how the congruency between package color and shape influences the health perception of food Two studies were conducted with using a survey on two online samples of consumers in Taiwan Survey subjects were asked to view the pictures of milk packages and answered their health perception of the milk product Study one investigated the influence of congruency between hue and saturation on perceived healthiness whereas study two examined the influence of congruency between package color and shape on perceived healthiness Results show that congruent combinations of color and shape were perceived to be healthier than the incongruent combinations Moreover hue was more influential in enhancing perceived healthiness than was saturation whereas package color is more influential in raising the perceived healthiness than shape Keywords: congruency package color package shape package design perceived healthiness

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English
Supervisor	Ya-Hui Kuo (Supervisor)