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Certain flavours and textures are better suited to high-pitched sounds and angular graphics, while others suit soft sounds and rounded graphics, finds a new study that could help marketers develop appropriate food product branding.
Choosing a brand name and graphics that accurately represent a product’s qualities and what a consumer may expect from it can mean the difference between commercial success and failure.
Charles Spence from Oxford University’s experimental psychology department and Alberto Gallace from the University of Milano-Bicocca set out to test how food products may be linked to sounds and taste. Their findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
Their study involved 20 participants aged between 18 and 60 years, who were given a set of linear scales either with a shape at each end or a nonsense word. They were asked to taste certain foodstuffs and indicate whether their perception matched the shape or word at one end of the scale more than the other.
The commercially-available foodstuffs tested were: still water, sparkling water, cranberry juice, brie cheese, and two kinds of chocolate confectionery.
The sparkling water, cranberry juice and Maltesers (chocolate-covered honey-comb) were seen to be most associated with angular shapes and high-pitched pseudo-words like ‘kiki’ and ‘takete’, pronunciation of which requires sharp inflection of the mouth.
The still water, brie and Caramel Nibbles (chocolate-covered caramel) were most associated with rounded shapes and lower pitched pseudo-words like ‘bouba’ and ‘maluma’.
The researchers say these results “demonstrate that the phenomenon of sound symbolism extends beyond the visual modality, and in terms of the oral-somatosensory attributes of foodstuffs as well”.
They may help companies design novel brand names and graphics for packaging that best represents the food and drink products they contain, and can give an indication of what the consumer can expect.
Chocolate positioning
Spence and Gallace said the different results for the two chocolate confectionery products are especially interesting because Maltesers and Caramel Nibbles have similar market positioning – but Maltesers are noisier to eat.
“It may be this different in aural texture that was driving the participants’responses,” they wrote.
Future research will need to determine whether brand names and graphics that have been designed on the basis of sound symbolism actually change a consumer’s sensory expectations about – and hence experience of – real products.
参考译文：
某研究发现，食品的某些风味和质构比较适于尖锐的语音和棱角的图案，而其他则较适于温润的语音和圆整的图案。该理论将有助于市场营销者开发合适的食品品牌。
选择一个合适的品牌名字和图案——它们一定程度上代表了产品的雷竞技百科 及消费者对之的预期，有时就意味着商业成功或失败之间的差异。
来自牛津大学实验心理学系的查尔斯.思朋斯（Charles Spence）和米兰-比可卡大学的阿尔贝托.格莱士（Alberto Gallace）想要通过实验探索食品是如何跟声音、味道相关联的。他们的研究发现已由《食品雷竞技百科 和偏好》杂志接收。
该研究共有20名参与者，年龄介于18到60之间。他们要品尝一些食品，然后根据一套附有形状和随机词语的线性标尺去描述他们的感官所感知到的情况跟标尺哪个尺度附有的形状及字词更相符。
用做测试的食品（有商业用途）是：蒸馏水、苏打水、蔓越橘汁、布里干酪和两种巧克力糖果。
苏打水、蔓越橘汁和麦提沙（蜜饯包裹的巧克力）这三种食品被看做跟棱角图案和尖锐词语关联性更大，比如‘kiki’和‘takete’，它们的发音需要大而且尖的口形变化。
蒸馏水、布里干酪和焦糖小食（焦糖包裹的巧克力）这三种食品被看做跟圆整图案和低音虚词如‘bouba’和‘maluma’关联性更大。
研究者表示，该测试结果说明，语音符号已超出其自身形态，并可定义为食品的口述-躯体感觉（oral-somatosensory）属性。
这将有助公司开发出新奇的品牌名字及最能代表食品和饮料内容物的包装图案，并给予跟消费者预期一致的信息。
巧克力的定位
思朋斯和格莱士说，有趣的是两种巧克力糖果的不同测试结果，虽然麦提沙和焦糖小食有相似的市场定位——但麦提沙因为过于~而不如焦糖小食更为消费者喜爱。
他们写到，“或许是听觉结构的差异性影响了参与者的具体反应。”接下来，还要做进一步的研究实验以确定基于语音系统设计的品牌名字和图案是否真的影响消费者对产品的感官预期及切实的品尝。
