Applying free word association to understand the perception of fish as a meal by Brazilians with different consumption frequencies

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate through free word association the Brazilian consumers' perception of fish as a meal and to explore whether different fish consumption frequencies play a role. The participants were split into high, occasional, and low consumption groups according to their self‐reported fish consumption frequency. Brazilian consumers' general associations with fish were strongly related to health benefits, which was considered a motivating factor for the high consumption group. However, for the low consumption group, the unfamiliarity, the low convenience and the high price represent barriers to fish consumption. Although they did not present negative feelings regarding fish, it was not possible to determine the factors that influence fish consumption for the group of occasional consumers. The elaboration of semi ready‐to‐eat products from fish residues and further studies focusing on occasional consumers can be strategies to increase the Brazilian per capita consumption of fish. Practical Applications Fish is an important source of high quality nutrients and its intake contributes to maintaining a healthy diet. However, the per capita consumption of this matrix is still low in Brazil. The present study observed that the perception of Brazilian consumers regarding fish as a meal was significantly affected by their fish consumption frequency. Therefore, the different consumer profiles must be taken into account for the development of more appropriate marketing and communication strategies aimed at increasing the consumption of this important product in the country.

The influence of packaging colour on consumer expectations of coffee using free word association

“…In WA experiments, a stimulus is given to the respondent (e.g., images), and then they must write about the associations that come to their minds, giving relatively unrestricted access to mental representations of the stimulus. Recently, WA has been used to understand the perception of consumers regarding different foods 9–11 . In this way, WA can be used to investigate the effect of colour packaging on the consumer perceptions 3,4,7,12 …”

“…Recently, WA has been used to understand the perception of consumers regarding different foods. [9][10][11] In this way, WA can be used to investigate the effect of colour packaging on the consumer perceptions. 3,4,7,12 Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages with a bitter taste worldwide.…”

COVID‐19 contamination through food: A study with Brazilian consumers of different socioeconomic and demographic characteristics

“…The frequency of mention of words, categories, and dimensions was calculated without considering whether the words were provided by the same participant or by different participants. For this reason, the relative frequency of mentioning categories/dimensions can be over 100% (Andrade et al, 2016 ; Guerrero et al, 2010 ; Viana et al, 2021 ).…”

“…As this technique has no right or wrong answers, respondents evoke their spontaneous thoughts, feelings, and attitudes, which is crucial to identify a subject's actual state, overcoming the limitations of predefined questionnaires (Gero et al, 2020 ). The FWA has contributed with relevant information regarding the consumers' perceptions and attitudes toward functional foods (Rojas‐Rivas, Espinoza‐Ortega, Martínez‐García, Moctezuma‐Pérez, & Thomé‐Ortiz, 2018 ), herbal infusions (Rocha, Moura, & Cunha, 2020 ), wine (Celhay & Remaud, 2018 ), fermented milk (Pinto et al, 2018 ), maize tortilla (Sánchez‐Vega, Espinoza‐Ortega, Thomé‐Ortiz, & Moctezuma‐Pérez, 2020 ), fish as a meal by Brazilians (Viana et al, 2021 ) and the overall COVID‐19 pandemic scenario (Melo et al, 2021 ). In this context, the present study aimed to investigate how the COVID‐19 infection through food is perceived by Brazilian consumers using the FWA and exploring different socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.…”

Exploring consumer preferences and factors associated with vegetable consumption

“…After that, they were asked to indicate the reasons they find important for vegetable consumption, both positive and negative. The reasons with similar meanings were grouped into different categories (Arce et al, 2021;Viana et al, 2021): composition (healthy and safe), preferences (tasty, high-quality food and family members love it), supply (domestic, seasonal, long shelf-life) and convenience (easy to use, often used for meal preparation, good for salad, good snack). Terms mentioned by more than 10% of the respondents were included in the questionnaire (Hough & Ferrais, 2010;Arce et al, 2021).…”