Effects of Visual Cues on Consumer Expectation, Emotion and Wellness Responses, and Purchase Intent of Red Chili Powders.

The effects of visual cues on familiarity, expected heat intensity, liking of appearance, emotional and wellness responses, and purchase intent (PI) before and after disclosing information associated with red chili powders were determined using a 3-point scale, a 15-cm line scale, a 9-point hedonic scale, a 15-cm line scale, and a binomial scale, respectively. In this study, consumers only visually evaluated red chili powder samples without sniffing nor tasting. Eight chili powders were prepared according to a 23 factorial design: roasted (Ro) compared with unroasted (Un); whole pod with seeds (Wh) compared with seedless (Sl); coarsely (Cr) compared with finely ground (Gr). Thai consumers (N = 230) were generally more familiar with samples having coarse particles and more reddish color (lower hue angle and higher a* values) than samples having finely ground particles and less reddish/more yellowish color (higher hue angle and lower a* values). The expected heat intensity and liking scores for appearance were lower for samples with higher hue values, particularly RoWhGr and RoSIGr samples. All scores for emotion/wellness terms, except curious, were generally higher for samples with lower hue angle and higher a* values (redness). The consumer familiarity to the appearance of the samples influenced expected heat intensity, liking of appearance, and emotion/wellness responses. PI increased by >10% after presenting "organic," "aflatoxin free," and "organic and aflatoxin free" product statements to consumers. Results showed that familiarity, overall liking of appearance, color liking, fine particles liking, and healthy as well as wild terms were significant predictors for PI (odds ratio = 1.282, 1.519, 1.314, 1.158, 1.056, and 0.939, respectively) of red chili powders. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This study showed that consumer familiarity to the appearance (visual cues) of red chili powder affected expected heat intensity, liking of appearance, and emotion/wellness responses, which, in turn, affected purchase intent (PI). Samples with more reddish color and coarse particles were perceived to be more familiar than those with more yellowish color and finer particles. Familiarity, overall liking of appearance, color liking, fine particles liking, and healthy and wild terms were significant predictors for PI of chili power. The results demonstrated the importance of visual cues on the consumers' expectation and PI of red chili powder, thus offering valuable information for manufacturers.