Implicit and explicit liking of a snack with health- versus taste-related information

Despite extensive consumer testing during product development, healthy snacks often fail in the market. This indicates that other factors are at play besides what is traditionally being tested before product launch. The aim of the study was to examine how exposure to a snack with a health versus taste message affects perceived healthiness, expected tastiness, as well as implicit and explicit consumer liking, and how implicit and explicit liking are related. In a between-subjects design, consumers were either exposed to a snack with health- or taste-related information on the product package. To capture both implicit and explicit consumer reactions, this research utilized a combination of implicit (EEG data) and explicit (questionnaire) measures. Results indicate that explicitly perceived healthiness positively influences expected tastiness and explicit liking when health-related information is present on the product package. Implicit and explicit liking aligned for snacks positioned as tasty, whereas for healthy snacks, implicit and explicit liking did not align. This implies that using implicit measures of liking can help to understand consumer preferences, especially when studying products with health-related information on the product package.