Healthy package, healthy product? Effects of packaging design as a function of purchase setting

• A ‘healthy’ package appearance can inspire a ‘healthy’ product experience.
• The effect of package appearance on taste evaluation is highly context-dependent.
• Packaging appearance has little impact on taste evaluation in ‘green’ supermarkets.
• Shoppers at green supermarkets are less easily persuaded by packaging design.

Inspired by research testifying to the influence of visual packaging appearance and meaning portrayal on food evaluation, here it is argued that effects of packaging design vary depending on purchase context. Realistic packaging variants for a fictitious yoghurt brand varying in health connotation were designed. Data were collected during two field studies in the entrance halls of a discount supermarket visited by price sensitive buyers and a green supermarket frequented by organic buyers respectively. Results from a taste session in which shoppers tasted an identical yoghurt variant from either one of the two package variants revealed that packaging design influenced taste evaluation in the discount supermarket only, with a more healthy packaging appearance positively affecting perceptions of food healthiness. A follow-up study further stressed the importance of considering store environment and related shopper concerns in (packaging) design practice.