Emoji for Food and Beverage Research: Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance Meanings and Appropriateness for Use

Abstract

Emoji have been argued to have considerable potential for emotion research but are struggling with uptake in part because knowledge about their meaning is lacking. The present research included 24 emoji (14 facial, 10 non-facial) which were characterized using the PAD model (Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance) of human affect by 165 consumers in New Zealand and 861 consumers in the UK. The results from the two countries were remarkably similar and contributed further evidence that emoji are suitable for cross-cultural research. While significant differences between the emoji were established for each of the PAD dimensions, the mean scores differed most on the Pleasure dimension (positive to negative), then on the Arousal dimension (activated to deactivated), and lastly on the Dominance dimension (dominance to submissive). The research also directly measured the perceived appropriateness of the 24 emoji for use with foods and beverages. The emoji face savoring food, clapping hands and party popper were in the top-5 for the highest appropriateness in food and beverage context for both studies, as was a strong negative expression linked to rejection (Study 1: face vomiting; Study 2: nauseated face). On the other hand, zzz and oncoming fist were considered as the least appropriate to be used in a food and beverage context in both studies. Again, the results from the UK and NZ were in good agreement and identified similar groups of emoji as most and least suitable for food-related consumer research.

Emoji meanings (pleasure–arousal–dominance dimensions) in consumer research: Between‐country and interpersonal differences

“…Predominantly "small" between-country differences were also confirmed for four emoji when including data from two additional countries (New Zealand and UK) obtained in a prior study. These findings are in line with research from Barbieri et al (2016), Jaeger et al (2021a), andJaeger, Jin, et al (2021), and further support the application of emoji in crosscultural consumer studies. However, it is important to stress that the present research does identify many "small" and some "medium" between-country differences.…”

“…Participant recruitment and inclusion criteria were the same as above and described in full in Jaeger, Jin, et al. (2021).…”

“…Data from adults in the United Kingdom (UK) (n = 438) and New Zealand (NZ) (n = 162) enabled an extension to Objective 1. Participant recruitment and inclusion criteria were the same as above and described in full in Jaeger, Jin, et al (2021).…”

“…Such data is currently lacking for most emoji of the emoji CEQ and in the present research data is obtained from three countries (Germany, Singapore, and Malaysia) where emoji meanings regarding valence, arousal and dominance have not yet been established for any emoji, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. To strengthen the between‐country comparison of emoji meaning on the PAD dimensions, data from prior research carried out in New Zealand and the United Kingdom (Jaeger, Jin, et al., 2021) was included and enabled a five‐country comparison for four emoji on the three PAD dimensions of meaning.…”

“…(2021a) and Jaeger, Jin, et al. (2021) contributed insights on the semantic meanings of emoji, it was limited from the perspective of not focusing on “dimensional meanings” and not including emoji that spanned valence × arousal space well. The present research contributes to a closing of this gap.…”