ABSTRACT
Edible insects have been introduced as a novel protein source. Although the rationales for insect-eating highlight the urgency of changing diets into more sustainable solutions, there is still a need for better understanding how packaging design is related to adoption of insects. Much consumer research has been conducted to understand the acceptance of insects, but packaging design connected to practices has been given less focus. This article looks at packaging as a medium for stimulating adoption and links an empirical study on analogies for packaging design to practices of eating insects.
Edible insects have been introduced as a novel protein source. Although the rationales for insect-eating highlight the urgency of changing diets into more sustainable solutions, there is still a need for better understanding how packaging design is related to adoption of insects. Much consumer research has been conducted to understand the acceptance of insects, but packaging design connected to practices has been given less focus. This article looks at packaging as a medium for stimulating adoption and links an empirical study on analogies for packaging design to practices of eating insects.
AIM
To investigate packaging design as a medium for introducing eating of insects through food analogies.
FINDINGS
• Consumers with a little experience on insect-eating are hesitant mixing insects with other types of food such as salad. A finding from a focus group discussion.
• Analogies on a packaging describing preparation of mealworms increased consumer acceptance compared to analogies describing the taste and texture. A finding from a consumer survey.
• Having both above mentioned analogies resulted the best consumer acceptance of mealworms. A finding from a consumer survey.
Relational analogy (packaging C) and both analogies (packaging D) had the best results in the international consumer survey.