Emotional responses to branded and unbranded foods S. Spinelli a,⇑ , C. Masi b , G.P. Zoboli c , J. Prescott d , E. Monteleone b a SemioSensory – Research & Consulting, Prato, Italy b University of Florence, Dipartimento di Gestione Sistemi Agrari, Alimentari e Forestali (GESAAF), Florence, Italy c Adacta International S.p.A., Naples, Italy d TasteMatters Research & Consulting, Sydney, Australia article info Article history: Received 30 June 2014 Received in revised form 24 December 2014 Accepted 24 December 2014 Available online 6 January 2015 Keywords: Emotions Liking Expectations Sensory Packaging Semiotics Branding abstract Investigating the emotions elicited by a product considering only its sensory characteristics or both its sensory characteristics and packaging/branding can give a deeper insight into product perception and can help companies in the design and optimisation of products that meet consumer expectations. The aim of this study was to (i) measure how liking changes across blind, package (expected) and informed conditions, and (ii) measure how emotions change across blind and informed conditions, in products rep- resenting the widest range of sensory variability and brand identity in the market category of hazelnut and cocoa spreads. In the first session participants (n = 120) tasted each product in a blind condition, expressed their liking and rated emotions using the EmoSemio questionnaire specifically developed for this product category (Spinelli, Masi, Dinnella, Zoboli, & Monteleone, 2014). Then consumers were asked to rate their expected liking for the products, presented in the original packaging by means of photos (pack/expected condition). After one week, consumers tasted each product presented with its own pack- aging (informed condition), expressed their liking and rated emotions. Emotions were very discriminating in both conditions: in the informed condition all the emotions sig- nificantly varied across samples, while in the blind condition 21 out of 23 (91.3%) varied. Results showed a correlation between liking (blind, expected and informed) and emotions. Complete assimilation of liking toward expectations was associated to an overall improvement of the emotional performance of the product: positive emotions increased in the case of complete assimilation towards the expectations, while negative emotions decreased. When there was a mismatch between expected lik- ing evoked by packaging and blind liking (disconfirmation) but an assimilation effect was not found, some positive emotions significantly decreased in the informed condition compared to the blind one. This study suggests the importance of collecting emotion responses in both blind and informed condi- tions to detect changes in the emotional profile of products due to the brand/packaging providing infor- mation useful for product optimisation. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Over the past few years, measuring emotions elicited by prod- ucts in addition to perceptions and preferences for their sensory properties has become more frequent. The reason for this growing interest can be found in the leading role played by emotions in the experience and, consequently, in the choice of products and con- sumer decisions (Bagozzi, Gopinath, & Nyer, 1999; Meiselman, 2013; Thomson, 2007). A number of approaches to investigating emotions elicited by products have been developed in the field of sensory and consumer science, making more and more emotions part of the ‘‘lexicon’’ shared by sensory and marketing studies. Although, they are experienced as a whole, multiple layers can be distinguished in the definition of what constitutes a product: the physical object characterised by a specific sensory identity, the package, the brand name and marketing mix, and the context of usage or consumption (Schifferstein, 2010). Each of these layers can elicit specific emotions and can be attached to different mean- ings in the mind of consumers. Aligning the emotions communi- cated by the product (for its intrinsic sensory characteristics) and the pack with branding so that they are consistent augments and strengthens the brand greatly (Krishna, 2010; Lindstrom, 2005). This so-called ‘‘SensoEmotional optimisation’’ (Thomson, 2007) can be developed in two ways: either by aligning the sensory char- acteristics of the product with the defining emotional characteris- tics of the brand (brand-first strategy); or by determining in the first place whether or not any of the defining sensory http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2014.12.009 0950-3293/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 340 5462245. E-mail address: sara.spinelli@semiosensory.com (S. Spinelli). Food Quality and Preference 42 (2015) 1–11 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Quality and Preference journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual