Emotional responses towards food packaging: A joint application of self-report and physiological measures of emotion

• We examine emotional responses to food packaging elements.
• We measure emotional responses with self-report and physiological measures.
• Images elicit emotional responses that can be captured by both self-reports and physiological measures.
• Colours and typefaces evoke only conscious emotional responses revealed by self-report measures.

In this paper we investigate consumers’ emotional responses to food packaging. More specifically, we use self-report and physiological measures to jointly assess emotional responses to three typical food packaging elements: colours (low-wavelength vs. high-wavelength), images (positive vs. negative) and typefaces (simple vs. ornate). A sample of 120 participants was exposed to mock package design concepts of chocolate blocks. The results suggest that images generate an emotional response that can be measured by both self-report and physiological measures, whereas colours and typefaces generate emotional response that can only be measured by self-report measures. We propose that a joint application of self-report and physiological measures can lead to richer information and wider interpretation of consumer emotional responses to food packaging elements than using either measure alone.