The results of this study suggest that Andean corn flours are a suitable and acceptable product for celiac consumers and can be used in the production of spaghetti for celiac consumers but should be reformulated for non-celiac consumers.

The influence of packaging and packaging elements on consumer perception of cosmetic creams was studied. Two groups, each consisting of 100 respondents, rated five face skin care creams (one of which was imported) and evaluated the unpackaged and the packaged product, respectively. Respondents rated each sample in terms of overall liking and provided a description of sample attributes by means of a check‐all‐that‐apply (CATA) question. Packaging elements like product composition, product information, and brand image influenced both overall liking ratings and the choice of attributes used by respondents to describe the samples. Interestingly, the sheer presence of certain packaging elements elicited mention of a greater number of attributes, which were not always claimed on the packaging. These results clearly suggest a stimulating effect of packaging on the perception of consumers. Practical applications This work provides information about the importance of packaging in consumers' perception of cosmetic creams. Packaging may provide information that leads consumers to focus on certain sensory attributes of products (such as odor and texture) even when these are not claimed explicitly. The choice of packaging elements can lead to either an improved or an impoverished appraisal of a cream's attributes and ultimately determine its commercial acceptability.

The present study aimed to identify the main aspects involved in consumers' perception of four types of antiperspirants/deodorants (APDs); cream, aerosol, roll‐on and stick; and compared the findings by using projective techniques; word association (WA) and product personality profiling (PPP) tasks. To apply the PPP task, participants had to imagine that each type of APDs was a person and describe it by gender, age, marital status, children, physical complexion, personality, work/profession/occupation, transport used, physical activity performed, and diet type. The different terms obtained were grouped into 16 categories in the WA task and in 36 subcategories in the PPP task. Both techniques provided data on different and complementary aspects of the products studied. While WA provided information on the characteristics of the different forms of APDs, the PPP gave information about the image that consumers have of each product. Both techniques could be used independently or in a complementary way. Practical applications This work provides information about consumers' perceptions of different types of antiperspirants/deodorants. It is shown that each applied task provides information which can be used for different purposes. The word association task provided information which could be applied in the optimization and/or development of one of these cosmetic forms, while the product personality profiling task gave information that could be used in marketing, either to reaffirm it, to revert it or to introduce a new product into the market.

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Abstract:Projective techniques rely on a stimulus to elicit from respondents projections of their beliefs onto other people or objects, thus reflecting their own perceptions, feelings and motivations. In this work, the job-sorting technique, in combination with Aaker's personality scale, was applied to the study of cream liqueur brand image in Uruguay and Costa Rica. Eight jobs with different levels of intellectual complexity, salary and physical demands were selected. In each of the two countries, three (two imported and one locally made) liqueurs were presented to 90 consumers with similar socio-demographic characteristics. Respondents were told to select the job, profession or occupation (JPO) that best fitted each brand. After JPO selection, respondents were asked to select from a list of 88 personality traits all the words that they considered applicable to each JPO selected. The JPOs associated with the different brands showed no similarity between Uruguayan and Costa Rican respondents, but the personality traits associated with the two imported brands were similar in both countries, supporting the use of JPOs as metaphors in the study of brand images. The brand image of locally made liqueurs was associated with traits that differed clearly from those of the imported brands. These results provide relevant information for the design of marketing strategies.