The taste of cuteness: How claims and cute visuals affect consumers’ perception of insect-based foods

Marquis, D.; Oliveira, Denize; Pantin-Sohier, Gaëlle; Carvalho, Felipe Reinoso; Deliza, Rosires; Gallen, Céline

doi:10.1016/j.ijgfs.2023.100722

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Creative solutions must be developed to address this challenge. Incorporating cute insect depictions into IF packaging or across other types of advertising is a promising avenue for visually highlighting the presence of this innovative ingredient without triggering strong consumer rejection (Boukid et al ., 2022; Marquis et al ., 2023). Such an approach facilitates the identification of IF by those actively seeking them and supports their acceptance amongst curious potential adopters, emphasising IF’s gastronomical benefits beyond health and sustainability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, Europe has recently approved and regulated the commercialisation of IF, reflecting government interest in developing its market. Due to distinct culinary traditions, Europeans and Latin Americans are expected to have different preferences for bread and chips in this study (Marquis et al ., 2023). Despite different eating habits, multinational brands operate in both regions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This can increase expectations of tastiness, sometimes to the detriment of expected nutritional qualities, thus stimulating purchase intentions when paired with vice (hedonic) products and decreasing them when associated with virtue (functional) products (Schnurr, 2019). This study’s authors launched a prior study investigating the effect of cute packaging design on consumer attitudes, finding it to vary greatly according to the product category with which it was associated (Marquis et al ., 2023). That earlier study adopted a holistic approach (i.e.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing the effect of baby schema cuteness on emotions, perceptions and attitudes towards insect-based packaged foods

Marquis,

Reinoso Carvalho,

Pantin-Sohier

2023

BFJ

Self Cite

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PurposeAversion linked to disgust and neophobia is the primary reason for human reluctance towards edible insects as a sustainable food source. Stimulating positive emotions may overcome these mental barriers. Cute visuals and claims on product packaging can trigger positive affective responses in consumers whilst modulating taste expectations. This study investigated how these elements influence emotions, perceptions and attitudes towards insect-based foods.Design/methodology/approachAn online cross-cultural study involving French (n = 747) and Colombian (n = 695) consumers was conducted using two insect-based products: chips (hedonic) and bread (functional). Ten visual packaging variations were created per product, emphasising palatability, sustainability, nutrition and popularity (plus a control: no claim) affixed to the image of a cute anthropomorphic cricket or its silhouette. Visual appreciation and associations were assessed along with the participants' degree of food variety seeking, familiarity with entomophagy and openness to consuming edible insects.FindingsDifferences were reported in emotions, perceptions and attitudes based on the combination of packaging elements, product type and consumer segments. The findings suggest that food marketers should use cute insect depictions linked to palatability-focussed claims to alleviate young French adults' reluctance towards insect-based foods (IFs). Colombians responded better to pro-social claims and neutrally to cuteness.Practical implicationsThe results should be valuable to stakeholders seeking to enhance food marketing strategies related to IFs amongst target consumer segments.Originality/valueThis study is the first to assess how baby schema cuteness induces emotional changes towards IFs and how it affects perceptions and attitudes amongst distinct populations and age segments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessing the effect of baby schema cuteness on emotions, perceptions and attitudes towards insect-based packaged foods

Marquis,

Reinoso Carvalho,

Pantin-Sohier

2023

BFJ

Self Cite

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“…For example, cute objects influence people’s compliance behaviors (Bellfield et al ., 2011), task attention (Nittono et al ., 2012), indulgent consumption (Nenkov and Scott, 2014), recycling behaviors (Wang et al ., 2017), decisions relating to temporal focus (Li et al ., 2019), risk preferences (Li and Yan, 2021), brand attitude (Septianto and Paramita, 2021), brand engagement (Lee and Hsieh, 2019), responses to destination marketing (Su and Li, 2023; Ye et al ., 2023; Xu et al ., 2022), prosocial behavior (Yang et al ., 2022; Jang, 2022; Shin and Mattila, 2021) and reaction after brand transgressions (Septianto and Kwon, 2022). Recent research has found an impact of cuteness in new domains, including AI (Lv et al ., 2022), AI voice assistants (Yu et al ., 2022), social robot faces (Chen and Jia, 2023) and insect-based foods (Marquis et al ., 2023).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cuteness positively impacts travel intention through increasing trust as well as curiosity (Ye et al ., 2023). Cute depictions of insects on insect-based consumer foods may reduce reluctance and avoidance of such foods (Marquis et al ., 2023).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

As cute as a button: the effect of size on online product cuteness perception

Li,

Eastman

2023

JPBM

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Purpose Cute products have found market success. The literature has identified various factors of cuteness, but the effect of size is under-addressed. This study aims to investigate whether and how size perception influences consumers’ cuteness perception. Design/methodology/approach In three experiments, size was manipulated in terms of visual cue, product description and product name to determine its impact on cuteness perception. Findings The results of the three experiments demonstrate that a size cue of smallness can heighten consumers’ perception of product cuteness. The first two studies provided converging evidence for the main hypothesis that smaller objects are evaluated as cuter. Study 3 not only replicated the findings of the first two studies but also revealed that vulnerability acts as the underlying process for the smallness-cuteness relationship. Study 3 also showed that the purchase likelihood for an extended product warranty is higher in the small condition compared to the control condition. Research limitations/implications While the findings were robust across product types and size manipulations, possible boundary conditions related to product types or individual characteristics were not tested. Practical implications The findings suggest how brand managers can use size perceptions to influence consumers’ perceptions of the cuteness of their products and brands. Originality/value The findings inform brand managers about the nuances of size cues that may affect how customers perceive their products and identify a more generally applicable cuteness factor that may have downstream implications for marketing practitioners.

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Quality and staling characteristics of white bread fortified with lysozyme-hydrolyzed mealworm powder (Tenebrio molitor L.)

Pyo,

Moon,

Park

et al. 2024

Current Research in Food Science

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The taste of cuteness: How claims and cute visuals affect consumers’ perception of insect-based foods

Cited by 11 publications

References 97 publications

Assessing the effect of baby schema cuteness on emotions, perceptions and attitudes towards insect-based packaged foods

Assessing the effect of baby schema cuteness on emotions, perceptions and attitudes towards insect-based packaged foods

As cute as a button: the effect of size on online product cuteness perception

Quality and staling characteristics of white bread fortified with lysozyme-hydrolyzed mealworm powder (Tenebrio molitor L.)

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