Packaging plays a very important role in ensuring the safety of food and beverages from factory to consumer, and it is also a necessary market factor, because the more attractive a product's packaging, the more customers will buy it. After all, first impressions are everything - just as a product not in a prominent position is hard to sell. But product packaging design goes further than that: the way food and beverages are packaged affects how people perceive taste.
Wine and beer experts believe that packaging different beverages in different bottles and glasses affects their taste. This means a Pinot Grigio or Cabernet Sauvignon tastes different when in a cup rather than in a dedicated bottle.
Coca-Cola is an example of how packaging design affects perceived taste. In 2011, the company changed its world-famous red can to white packaging with a white polar bear, the first time its trademark color had been modified in 125 years. These special-edition cans were intended to raise funds for the endangered polar bear.
However, customers began to complain about the drink's taste, thinking Coca-Cola had changed its flavor and aesthetics, and in the end the trademark had to be changed back to the original red can, but the polar bear picture was kept.
Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, believes this is just one example of how packaging can change taste perception. He became interested in this case and explored the phenomenon by placing popcorn in bowls of different colors. Research participants thought salty tortilla chips were sweeter in a red bowl. Therefore, this color is associated with sweetness, which further proves Coca-Cola's failed packaging.
This finding means that designers and producers should focus on designing more aesthetically pleasing packaging to enhance their products' taste. It is crucial to study in depth how packaging affects consumers' senses, such as understanding the effects of color and pattern. It is important not only to consider whether special packaging will attract attention, but also to consider the experience after the consumer opens or consumes the product.
The connection between packaging and taste cannot be ignored or underestimated, because packaging sets expectations for a product's flavor. Whether intentional or unintentional does not matter, because the effect is the same. A product's appearance attracts customers to buy it, and the can also enhances their taste perception.
Product producers and retailers need to pay attention to this relationship and how it affects people's psychology. By leveraging this advantage, producers can encourage consumers to buy, creating the positive outcomes they seek.
KLBD-Kosher Certification Division