Novel Colors in Packaging: Boosting Consumers Learning Through Greater Expectation Violation

Companies often change product packaging colors to drive innovation and boost sales. However, these changes may violate expectations, resulting in inconsistent associations between new colors and original labels. It remains unclear whether consumers can learn these new associations. This study delved into the effect of expectation violation on consumer learning of color–label (flavor/brand) associations by varying the degree of violation between colors (adjacent and complementary) and labels. To assess associative strength, we compared learning effects under strong (color–flavor) and weak (color–brand) associations. Experiment 1 demonstrated higher accuracy in the visual search for packaging with complementary colors after learning. It was supported in Experiment 2. Between experiments, weaker associations showed greater improvement in response times (RTs). Our results suggest greater expectation violation in packaging color enhances associate learning. However, entrenched strong associations may impede the formation of new ones. These findings advance expectation violation theories and guide companies in using packaging color changes to innovate. Taking complements violating expectations can facilitate consumer learning.