The meaning of colors in food packaging: A study of industrialized products sold in Brazil

Abstract

Currently, packaging needs to communicate material and immaterial qualities of food, linked to the satisfaction of nutritional, psychological and cultural needs of consumers. For this, the design builds complex discourses, associating verbal and visual language. In Brazil, with the standardization of packaging formats and the growing variety of products, the importance of color in visual communication has expanded. This research aims to explain the system of color meanings in food packaging sold in Brazil, and demonstrate that the color of designs reflects ideological and cultural concepts of contemporary society. An empirical study was conducted, with a qualitative approach, in which the colors of 612 food packages were analyzed. The analysis tools come from semiology/semiotics. The results show that colors played three semiotic functions: (1) showing the color of the food (iconic function), (2) signaling objective characteristics of the products (indicative function), and (3) representing psychological and cultural qualities (symbolic function). It was found that the system of color meanings in the food packaging is organized based on color attributes (hue, lightness and chroma), through differences and oppositions. It is concluded that, in Brazil, the colors of food packaging reflect the heterogeneity of the consumption groups—such as white for the “healthy” people, black for the “refined”, pink for “women”, green for the “ecological”—and, in this sense, they work as identity markers.

Exploring relationship among semiotic product packaging, brand experience dimensions, brand trust and purchase intentions in an Asian emerging market

“…Packaging is usually a consumer's first interaction with the product (Lemon, 2019). Packaging communicates directly to the customer about price, quality, manufacturing or expiry date and indirectly through its graphics, font styles and images (Pereira, 2021). Packaging and labels motivate potential buyers to buy the product and make the customer trust a particular brand (Kauppinen-Räisänen and Jauffret, 2018).…”

“…Through repeated exposure, consumers form perceptions based on cultural and category codes (Liu and Cheng, 2021). Pereira (2021) used colour semiotics to explain the relevance of colours in food packaging. They concluded that colours represented three semiotic functions: iconic, indicative and symbolic.…”

From the color composition to the color psychology: Soft drink packaging in warm colors, and spirits packaging in dark colors

“…In the MC of soft drink packaging, white and warm colors appear more frequently than other colors, and the SC and TC also show the same pattern. Most of these MCs correspond to the color of food, 56 either by reproducing that color in opaque containers, through colored images of the package, or by exposing the liquid itself through a transparent package. In earlier studies on the color of beverage packaging, white symbolizes cleanliness and purity, 68 red, orange, and yellow can cause arousal and excitement 69 .…”

“…For the purposes of the analysis that follows, the top three colors that make up the highest percentage of soft drink and spirits product packaging were selected for analysis in these studies. In the following, the color area occupying the largest area in the product is the main color (MC), followed by the secondary color (SC, the one occupying the second largest area) and the third color (TC, occupying the third largest area) 55,56 …”

Packaging: herramienta del marketing para el posicionamiento de una marca en Andahuaylas

“…Por otro lado Steenis et al, ( 2017), mencionan que el envase tiene el poder para dar forma a las percepciones de los productos. Ambrose y Harris (2011) mencionan que los principales componentes del diseño son el material, la forma y ergonomía, el color, el lenguaje, la tipografía y la fotografía; el color es un factor importante para reconocer la marca, con el paso del tiempo el consumidor puede identificar el producto por un determinado color, aunque García-Madariaga et al, (2019) señalan que la modificación del color de un empaque no tiene un efecto significativo en los niveles de atención del consumidor; pero si el color del envase refleja la heterogeneidad de los grupos de consumidores como por el ejemplo el uso del color blanco para personas sanas o el color rosado para las mujeres (Pereira, 2021).…”