تاثیرات جبران کننده سبک حروف بر رفتار انتخاب مصرف کنندگان
Abstract
1- Introduction
2- Pilot study
3- Main study
4- General discussion
5- Author statement
References
Abstract
The present research included two field studies investigating, firstly, the effects of round and angular typefaces on taste expectations and, secondly, how such expectations may have downstream effects on naturalistic consumer choice. A taste experiment conducted at a science festival asked participants (N = 125) to rate the expected and actual sweetness and sourness of beer served from plastic cups labelled with either angular or round typeface. Effects of typeface were found on both taste expectations and perceived taste, but in opposite directions; participants rated the expected sourness of a beer as higher in the round (vs. angular) typeface condition, whereas they rated perceived sourness as lower in the round compared to the angular typeface condition. A follow-up field study conducted at a beer bar tested whether different typefaces on a beer board would affect actual beer choices. Data consisted of beer transactions (N = 1,952) and included the monetary amount, and the specific style, and size of beer purchased. The results showed that average transaction amount was lower in the round (vs. angular) typeface condition, and that customers purchased more sour beer options in this condition. These findings support a crossmodal compensation account, and suggest that round typefaces could increase choices of contrasting sour products. Hence, marketers may want to consider how typefaces can either enhance or diminish certain tastes.
Introduction
It has long been recognized that different typefaces have different connotations and associations. One needs to look no further than the internet’s playful disgust for typefaces such as comic sans or papyrus (Oneextrapixel, 2018) to see how people attach emotion and importance to typefaces. On a more serious note, typefaces play an important role in the development of marketing materials and product packaging design, which are often connected to significant financial costs for companies, underlining the importance of choosing the right typeface for products and brands. Certainly, typefaces can affect perception and convey meaning beyond the actual semantic message, so it is not surprising that this design element has received attention in regards to fields such as advertising and product packaging (Childers & Jass, 2002). However, even though typeface is a central part of food-related marketing, advertising, and packaging, research on the effects on taste expectation and perception has only started to gain traction (for a review, see Velasco & Spence, 2019). Indeed, several studies have shown how shapes can elicit certain associations and expectations within the food domain (Velasco et al., 2014), and other studies have revealed how, for instance, expectations play an important role in the actual perceived taste of a product (Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence, 2015).