26 Testing consumer responses to new packaging concepts L. Lahteenmaki and A. arvola, VTT Biotechnology, Finland 26.1 Introduction: new packaging techniques and the consumer New packaging techniques promise consumers safe food products that keep their high quality throughout shelf-life. The improved quality has been achieved by applying tailored technological solutions that require highly specialised knowl edge. From consumers' point of view these new techniques require explanations if food can keep fresh for an unexpected and thereby unnaturally long time Consumers in general tend to be suspicious towards novelty in food products as any new element can be potentially harmful(Rozin and Royzman, 2001) Furthermore, applying technology to achieve benefits can add to distrust as technology by itself can have negative connotations. Understanding how the benefits have been achieved requires advanced consumer education on the principles of food spoilage The basic functions of the package have been described as containing the foodstuff, protecting and maintaining its quality, providing information for the consumer, convenience in use, being environmentally friendly, and selling the product(Hurme et al., 2002). For consumers, the favourable packaging attributes include convenience in opening, resealing, storing and disposing (Eastlack et al., 1993, Mikkola et al., 1997). These positive attributes are almost all related to the practical properties of packages and how easy they are to use but include no safety issues. Similarly, most negative attributes referred to lack of convenience, the only safety related attributes listed were ' product spoils easily'and can spill or leak'(Eastlack et al, 1993) Most active and intelligent packaging methods aim at improving the quality nd safety of food products. The improvement of safety by producing longer
26.1 Introduction: new packaging techniques and the consumer New packaging techniques promise consumers safe food products that keep their high quality throughout shelf-life. The improved quality has been achieved by applying tailored technological solutions that require highly specialised knowledge. From consumers’ point of view these new techniques require explanations if food can keep fresh for an unexpected and thereby unnaturally long time. Consumers in general tend to be suspicious towards novelty in food products as any new element can be potentially harmful (Rozin and Royzman, 2001). Furthermore, applying technology to achieve benefits can add to distrust as technology by itself can have negative connotations. Understanding how the benefits have been achieved requires advanced consumer education on the principles of food spoilage. The basic functions of the package have been described as containing the foodstuff, protecting and maintaining its quality, providing information for the consumer, convenience in use, being environmentally friendly, and selling the product (Hurme et al., 2002). For consumers, the favourable packaging attributes include convenience in opening, resealing, storing and disposing (Eastlack et al., 1993; Mikkola et al., 1997). These positive attributes are almost all related to the practical properties of packages and how easy they are to use, but include no safety issues. Similarly, most negative attributes referred to lack of convenience, the only safety related attributes listed were ‘product spoils easily’ and ‘can spill or leak’ (Eastlack et al., 1993). Most active and intelligent packaging methods aim at improving the quality and safety of food products. The improvement of safety by producing longer 26 Testing consumer responses to new packaging concepts L. La¨hteenma¨ki and A. Arvola, VTT Biotechnology, Finland
Testing consumer responses to new packaging concepts 551 safe shelf-life may be a hard concept to sell to consumers. Safety is likely to be for consumers a self-evident feature and therefore regarded as a basic requirement in packed food products. Therefore, consumers do not assess the package based on its safety merits, rather they assess the convenience of using the pack when taking the presumably safe foodstuff from the package. Th implies that consumers need to be educated about the possible benefits that active and intelligent packaging can provide them and treating the different types of packaging solutions as integral parts of the product rather than the foodstuff and packaging as separate issues. Although active and intelligent ackaging methods have been studied widely and innovations have been developed very few of them have been developed into commercially available products( Hurme et al, 2002). One reason for the slow progress may have been the anticipated consumer concerns of these new applications. Surprisingly, however, very few consumer studies have been published on this topic This chapter describes how different approaches can be used to study consumers'attitudes towards active and intelligent packaging technology. The first section calls attention to the special problems that are encountered when novel technologies are studied. Then the principles of most frequently used qualitative and quantitative methods are introduced and their strengths and weaknesses are discussed a short overview of our current knowledge on consumer attitudes towards active and intelligent packaging will follow the methodological section. The few studies carried out have mostly dealt with consumers'attitudes towards oxygen absorbers and time-temperature indicators The last section in this chapter will discuss the future prospects of active and intelligent packaging from a consumer standpoint; what the issues are that need to be taken into account and how to approach possible consumer concerns 26.2 Special problems in testing responses to new packaging The novelty aspect and the fact that food products are regarded as entities including both package and foodstuff create challenges for studying consumer responses to new packaging technologies. When asked about familiar issues consumers tend to have either positive or negative attitudes that are activated by asking questions related to them. This process depends on the importance and topicality of the subject. Information on important or on relevant matters are given more attention and the belief structures tend to be more complex for relevant than for non-relevant issues. Recent exposure to the topic, on the other hand, makes the beliefs more accessible. When required to give answers about new food products or technologies these responses can be very arbitrary. People give responses although they are not sure what the question actually involves since this is the socially most appropriate and easiest way of handling questions The issues that come out are highly dependent on the associations these new technologies create in consumers' minds and what other matters are relevant for ler at the time
safe shelf-life may be a hard concept to sell to consumers. Safety is likely to be for consumers a self-evident feature and therefore regarded as a basic requirement in packed food products. Therefore, consumers do not assess the package based on its safety merits, rather they assess the convenience of using the pack when taking the presumably safe foodstuff from the package. This implies that consumers need to be educated about the possible benefits that active and intelligent packaging can provide them and treating the different types of packaging solutions as integral parts of the product rather than the foodstuff and packaging as separate issues. Although active and intelligent packaging methods have been studied widely and innovations have been developed very few of them have been developed into commercially available products (Hurme et al., 2002). One reason for the slow progress may have been the anticipated consumer concerns of these new applications. Surprisingly, however, very few consumer studies have been published on this topic. This chapter describes how different approaches can be used to study consumers’ attitudes towards active and intelligent packaging technology. The first section calls attention to the special problems that are encountered when novel technologies are studied. Then the principles of most frequently used qualitative and quantitative methods are introduced and their strengths and weaknesses are discussed. A short overview of our current knowledge on consumer attitudes towards active and intelligent packaging will follow the methodological section. The few studies carried out have mostly dealt with consumers’ attitudes towards oxygen absorbers and time-temperature indicators. The last section in this chapter will discuss the future prospects of active and intelligent packaging from a consumer standpoint; what the issues are that need to be taken into account and how to approach possible consumer concerns. 26.2 Special problems in testing responses to new packaging The novelty aspect and the fact that food products are regarded as entities including both package and foodstuff create challenges for studying consumer responses to new packaging technologies. When asked about familiar issues consumers tend to have either positive or negative attitudes that are activated by asking questions related to them. This process depends on the importance and topicality of the subject. Information on important or on relevant matters are given more attention and the belief structures tend to be more complex for relevant than for non-relevant issues. Recent exposure to the topic, on the other hand, makes the beliefs more accessible. When required to give answers about new food products or technologies these responses can be very arbitrary. People give responses although they are not sure what the question actually involves since this is the socially most appropriate and easiest way of handling questions. The issues that come out are highly dependent on the associations these new technologies create in consumers’ minds and what other matters are relevant for the consumer at the time. Testing consumer responses to new packaging concepts 551
552 Novel food packaging techniques In order to gain meaningful responses, consumers need to be made more familiar with intelligent packaging. This can be done by explaining what a oncept, whether active packaging or special indicator, means or by showing concrete examples of these active or intelligent package solutions. A simple way to explain to interviewees what the applications are and how they function is a set of photographs that are easy to take to different places. Furthermore, they are the same for all interviewees regardless of the time and location. If real food packages or indicators are used, they have to be replaced at each demonstration This will raise the expenses of the study, not to mention the amount of products that need to be carried to different locations and stored at accurate temperatures Modern technology makes it possible to carry out research by using the internet or computer-aided data collection systems. With these applications it is possible to demonstrate how the indicators work with no need to use actual food packages as samples The most feasible way of demonstrating these package solutions is to show food products with and without the indicators, absorbers or emitters. The responses are then related both to the example food and the packaging technology. This raises the question whether packaging technologies can be studied separately from their applications in consumer studies, as they provide improvements for the quality of food, not improvements for packaging. For consumer acceptance the perceived benefits are important. Consumers will assess the benefits they gain, but they also have concerns about how these benefits have been achieved. Furthermore, any technology that solely provides advantages for the other actors in the food chain are not easily accepted by consumers especially if they raise prices 26.3 Methods for testing consumer responses The central objective in consumer research is to find out whether consumers are willing to accept new packaging technologies, whether there are concerns that may obstruct or delay acceptance and how the benefits provided by the ne technologies are perceived. The methods used can be broadly divided into two categories; qualitative and quantitative approaches With qualitative methods we can get systematic information about how consumers think and formulate their opinions about food and packaging related issues. These techniques are valuable when we want to gather information about the different possible concerns consumers attach to novel technologies or we want to define what the reasoning is behind these concerns. The advantage of qualitative techniques is that consumers can use their own language and expressions to describe their opinions. Often qualitative techniques are used as pilot studies for quantitative approaches, but they are gaining value as independent tools. The most frequently used qualitative methods are focus group discussion and individual interviews Both these types of methods can be applied with different techniques depending on the question on the hand
In order to gain meaningful responses, consumers need to be made more familiar with intelligent packaging. This can be done by explaining what a concept, whether active packaging or special indicator, means or by showing concrete examples of these active or intelligent package solutions. A simple way to explain to interviewees what the applications are and how they function is a set of photographs that are easy to take to different places. Furthermore, they are the same for all interviewees regardless of the time and location. If real food packages or indicators are used, they have to be replaced at each demonstration. This will raise the expenses of the study, not to mention the amount of products that need to be carried to different locations and stored at accurate temperatures. Modern technology makes it possible to carry out research by using the internet or computer-aided data collection systems. With these applications it is possible to demonstrate how the indicators work with no need to use actual food packages as samples. The most feasible way of demonstrating these package solutions is to show food products with and without the indicators, absorbers or emitters. The responses are then related both to the example food and the packaging technology. This raises the question whether packaging technologies can be studied separately from their applications in consumer studies, as they provide improvements for the quality of food, not improvements for packaging. For consumer acceptance the perceived benefits are important. Consumers will assess the benefits they gain, but they also have concerns about how these benefits have been achieved. Furthermore, any technology that solely provides advantages for the other actors in the food chain are not easily accepted by consumers especially if they raise prices. 26.3 Methods for testing consumer responses The central objective in consumer research is to find out whether consumers are willing to accept new packaging technologies, whether there are concerns that may obstruct or delay acceptance and how the benefits provided by the new technologies are perceived. The methods used can be broadly divided into two categories; qualitative and quantitative approaches. With qualitative methods we can get systematic information about how consumers think and formulate their opinions about food and packaging related issues. These techniques are valuable when we want to gather information about the different possible concerns consumers attach to novel technologies or we want to define what the reasoning is behind these concerns. The advantage of qualitative techniques is that consumers can use their own language and expressions to describe their opinions. Often qualitative techniques are used as pilot studies for quantitative approaches, but they are gaining value as independent tools. The most frequently used qualitative methods are focus group discussion and individual interviews. Both these types of methods can be applied with different techniques depending on the question on the hand. 552 Novel food packaging techniques
Testing consumer responses to new packaging concepts 553 Qualitative methods describe how consumers think about certain issues but hey do not give the frequency of these ideas or how important the ideas are to different people. Quantitative methods are used when we want to find out how many people have a certain opinion or estimate the strength of an opinion. The quantitative surveys finding out peoples opinions can be carried out as interviews or questionnaires or a combination of these. Experimental designs are a special type of quantitative study in which respondents are given different treatments e.g., samples to try, and their responses are measured and compared in different experimental groups or with a control group. Below are short descriptions of typical features of most typically used methods and implications of their use in studying novel packaging materials. Detailed descriptions of the methods can be found in textbooks 26.3.1 Focus group discussions Focus group discussions provide information on how consumers talk about particular issues(Casey and Krueger, 1994). Moderating focus groups require careful preparation and the questions need to be outlined beforehand. The moderator needs to be well-trained for the task and possess appropriate social skills on diplomacy and bringing all participants into discussion as equal members of the group. The basic principle is that the moderator does not lead the discussion in any specific direction, as long as the conversation remains topical. The participants in the discussion group respond with comments and opinions from each other and thus the discussion deals with aspects coming from several individuals. This social interaction enables the pondering of the importance of matters that have been raised during the discussion. Analysing the focus group data is a relatively difficult task because the material produced during interactive discussions tends to be vast d branch in various directions. Due to this heterogeneity of material Casey and Krueger(1994)recommend that at least three groups with the same questions and similar participants should be run to cover the varia Where packaging issues are concerned focus group discussion works well with consumers because new technologies can be demonstrated as part of the group and there is no pressure to be an expert on the topic. Experts working for food industry, authority or consumer associations may find group discussion less relaxing than consumers, since these individuals should be knowledgeable about the novel packaging developments. This may cause tension a group discussion. If the aim in discussion is a free exchange of ideas and views about the future, tension may exclude some participants from the discussion or ideas and opinions are carefully controlled. Therefore respondents with vested interests in the topic are easier to handle in a one-to-one interview situation 26.3. 2 Qualitative and quantitative interviews Interviews allow direct interaction between respondent and interviewer Individual interviews can be carried out using several techniques. Some
Qualitative methods describe how consumers think about certain issues but they do not give the frequency of these ideas or how important the ideas are to different people. Quantitative methods are used when we want to find out how many people have a certain opinion or estimate the strength of an opinion. The quantitative surveys finding out people’s opinions can be carried out as interviews or questionnaires or a combination of these. Experimental designs are a special type of quantitative study in which respondents are given different treatments, e.g., samples to try, and their responses are measured and compared in different experimental groups or with a control group. Below are short descriptions of typical features of most typically used methods and implications of their use in studying novel packaging materials. Detailed descriptions of the methods can be found in textbooks. 26.3.1 Focus group discussions Focus group discussions provide information on how consumers talk about particular issues (Casey and Krueger, 1994). Moderating focus groups require careful preparation and the questions need to be outlined beforehand. The moderator needs to be well-trained for the task and possess appropriate social skills on diplomacy and bringing all participants into discussion as equal members of the group. The basic principle is that the moderator does not lead the discussion in any specific direction, as long as the conversation remains topical. The participants in the discussion group respond with comments and opinions from each other and thus the discussion deals with aspects coming from several individuals. This social interaction enables the pondering of the importance of matters that have been raised during the discussion. Analysing the focus group data is a relatively difficult task because the material produced during interactive discussions tends to be vast and branch in various directions. Due to this heterogeneity of material Casey and Krueger (1994) recommend that at least three groups with the same questions and similar participants should be run to cover the variation. Where packaging issues are concerned focus group discussion works well with consumers because new technologies can be demonstrated as part of the group session and there is no pressure to be an expert on the topic. Experts working for retailers, food industry, authority or consumer associations may find group discussion less relaxing than consumers, since these individuals should be knowledgeable about the novel packaging developments. This may cause tension in a group discussion. If the aim in discussion is a free exchange of ideas and views about the future, tension may exclude some participants from the discussion or ideas and opinions are carefully controlled. Therefore respondents with vested interests in the topic are easier to handle in a one-to-one interview situation. 26.3.2 Qualitative and quantitative interviews Interviews allow direct interaction between respondent and interviewer. Individual interviews can be carried out using several techniques. Some Testing consumer responses to new packaging concepts 553
554 Novel food packaging techniques techniques follow very structured procedures with a predefined order and form of questions; others allow an interviewees responses to delineate how to continue as long as the relevant topics are discussed. The type of interview is typically selected on the basis of research questions. Packaging issues are rarely sensitive issues and are therefore easy to talk about. Often in this type of stud either semi-structured or structured interviews have been used Qualitative interviews are used when we want know how respondents think about packaging and we do not have enough previous knowledge about what the possible responses can be. The approach is suitable for examining more complex issues as participants are not restricted in predefined response alternatives. Data analysis with a qualitative approach tends to be time consuming and the researcher has to be very skilful in analysing transcripts of focus group If we want to quantify responses the interviews are typically carried out with structured outlines and sometime the possible response alternatives are preselected. The advantage of carrying out an interview survey rather than a questionnaire is that interviewees can ask for explanations if they do not understand questions and also interviewers can ask for elaboration if the responses contain ambiguous expressions. With novel packaging solutions, using interviews enables a demonstration of what these absorbers and indicators are like when they are attached to the food package 26.3.3 Questionnaires Questionnaires offer a relatively inexpensive method to study what people think about an issue on average. a questionnaire approach can be selected if we know well enough what the possible response alternatives are that consumers are likely to give or we have an explicit predefined question. With appropriate sampling techniques the respondents can be selected to fulfil certain predefined criteria. Typically respondents are selected based on their socio-demographic background(sex, age, education, profession) or based on their consumption or buying habits. Often food-related studies are targeted on those who typically use the product or questions are asked of those who have the main responsibility for food choice in their own household. Due to the latter criterion, the majority of the food or packaging related studies have had mostly female respondents(Anon, 1991; Korhonen et al., 1999, Mikkola et a1,1997) The limitation of questionnaires in packaging related research is that items in a questionnaire should refer to familiar things. If consumers are asked opinions about themes they are not familiar with, the reliability and validity of these responses may not be very good. There are several textbooks describing how to construct a questionnaire and ask factual and attitudinal questions, but the basic rule is that the questions should be easily comprehensible and provide alternatives that mers can relate to
techniques follow very structured procedures with a predefined order and form of questions; others allow an interviewee’s responses to delineate how to continue as long as the relevant topics are discussed. The type of interview is typically selected on the basis of research questions. Packaging issues are rarely sensitive issues and are therefore easy to talk about. Often in this type of study either semi-structured or structured interviews have been used. Qualitative interviews are used when we want know how respondents think about packaging and we do not have enough previous knowledge about what the possible responses can be. The approach is suitable for examining more complex issues as participants are not restricted in predefined response alternatives. Data analysis with a qualitative approach tends to be time consuming and the researcher has to be very skilful in analysing transcripts of focus group discussions. If we want to quantify responses the interviews are typically carried out with structured outlines and sometime the possible response alternatives are preselected. The advantage of carrying out an interview survey rather than a questionnaire is that interviewees can ask for explanations if they do not understand questions and also interviewers can ask for elaboration if the responses contain ambiguous expressions. With novel packaging solutions, using interviews enables a demonstration of what these absorbers and indicators are like when they are attached to the food package. 26.3.3 Questionnaires Questionnaires offer a relatively inexpensive method to study what people think about an issue on average. A questionnaire approach can be selected if we know well enough what the possible response alternatives are that consumers are likely to give or we have an explicit predefined question. With appropriate sampling techniques the respondents can be selected to fulfil certain predefined criteria. Typically respondents are selected based on their socio-demographic background (sex, age, education, profession) or based on their consumption or buying habits. Often food-related studies are targeted on those who typically use the product or questions are asked of those who have the main responsibility for food choice in their own household. Due to the latter criterion, the majority of the food or packaging related studies have had mostly female respondents (Anon., 1991; Korhonen et al., 1999; Mikkola et al., 1997). The limitation of questionnaires in packaging related research is that items in a questionnaire should refer to familiar things. If consumers are asked opinions about themes they are not familiar with, the reliability and validity of these responses may not be very good. There are several textbooks describing how to construct a questionnaire and ask factual and attitudinal questions, but the basic rule is that the questions should be easily comprehensible and provide alternatives that consumers can relate to. 554 Novel food packaging techniques