Sensory in the wild: How context and category labels shape liking and sensory perception of hop waters

Abstract

Context and labelling have been shown to greatly influence food preferences, and this is thought to be due to the way these extrinsic factors prime expectations of consumers. However, consumers may have less preconceived expectations from these factors in a novel product category. To examine the impact of different contexts and category labels on the liking and sensory perception of hop waters, we tested two contexts (an event context and on-the-go context) and two category labels (sparkling water and hop water) which resulted in a total of four conditions. 243 participants were assigned to one of the four conditions and asked to rate the liking of three hop waters and answer a check-all-that-apply question. Although context and category label did not affect the liking scores of the hop waters, both context and category label affected the perception of the products. Hop waters that were labelled as hop water and/or consumed in the event context had increased perception of beer-like characteristics, while hop waters that were labelled as sparkling water and/or consumed in the on-the-go context had increased perception of fruity and sweet characteristics. On the other hand, demographic factors like age and frequency of consumption of sparkling water affected liking scores but not the perception of the hop waters. Results suggest that although extrinsic factors do not influence liking in novel product categories, they can impact product perception, which has implications for marketing of products.