The color–flavor incongruency effect in product evaluation and brand perception

Abstract Crossmodal correspondences refer to the tendency to associate a pair of features across different senses; specifically, consumers can associate the color of packaging with a certain flavor label for packaged foods after repeated exposure to the packaging of mainstream, everyday products. We conducted two studies to examine how the incongruency between packaging color and flavor labeling influences consumers' evaluations of a food product and their perceptions of a brand. The results revealed that the participants liked a food product less when its packaging color was incongruent with its flavor label, but the magnitude of this color–flavor incongruency effect decreased after participants repeatedly searched for these products on the shelves of a virtual supermarket. Participants also considered the brand of packaged foods to be more innovative when the products' packaging colors were incongruent with flavor labels, and the magnitude of this color–flavor incongruency effect on brand perception was not influenced by their experience of searching for a product in virtual reality. Together, these results suggested that crossmodal congruency is an important factor to consider in packaging design and can be used as a marketing tool to increase product likability and attract consumers' attention.