moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,415
This excerpt from an article on the "New Coke" debacle reminded me of the fickle nature of taste as it relates to cigars. Amazing how much influence things other than the tobacco -- such as vociferously voiced opinions or packaging -- can impact our perceptions of taste.
The whole article is a good read, but here's the germane excerpt:
.....
from: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=964
New Coke became a vehicle for large-scale informational conformity, the human tendency to unconsciously adjust one's opinions to correlate with the outspoken views of the social group.
In retrospect, some marketers believe that the failure of New Coke may have had something to do with sensation transference, a human oddity first described by Louis Cheskin in the 1940s. Cheskin demonstrated that people will unconsciously associate imagery, sounds, tastes, aromas, and textures into their general impression of a product, even if such associations are unintended or inaccurate. These sensory inputs create a halo effect which actually modifies flavor perception, so while cola drinkers may have preferred the new Coke formula, they may have disliked the "taste" of the redesigned packaging.
Even Gay Mullins– the man who tried to sue to restore the old flavor– showed a preference for New Coke when subjected to blind taste tests. It has been suggested that if Coca-Cola had changed their recipe but retained the familiar branding, New Coke and its taste-test-winning flavor might have been more acceptable to our primitive brains.
Sensation transference was also powerfully demonstrated in a 2007 experiment, in which preschoolers were given McDonald's menu items in both branded and plain wrappers. Although the foods were identical aside from their wrappings, the children said they preferred the taste of the McDonald's-branded burgers, carrots, and apple juice in the vast majority of tests.
The whole article is a good read, but here's the germane excerpt:
.....
from: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=964
New Coke became a vehicle for large-scale informational conformity, the human tendency to unconsciously adjust one's opinions to correlate with the outspoken views of the social group.
In retrospect, some marketers believe that the failure of New Coke may have had something to do with sensation transference, a human oddity first described by Louis Cheskin in the 1940s. Cheskin demonstrated that people will unconsciously associate imagery, sounds, tastes, aromas, and textures into their general impression of a product, even if such associations are unintended or inaccurate. These sensory inputs create a halo effect which actually modifies flavor perception, so while cola drinkers may have preferred the new Coke formula, they may have disliked the "taste" of the redesigned packaging.
Even Gay Mullins– the man who tried to sue to restore the old flavor– showed a preference for New Coke when subjected to blind taste tests. It has been suggested that if Coca-Cola had changed their recipe but retained the familiar branding, New Coke and its taste-test-winning flavor might have been more acceptable to our primitive brains.
Sensation transference was also powerfully demonstrated in a 2007 experiment, in which preschoolers were given McDonald's menu items in both branded and plain wrappers. Although the foods were identical aside from their wrappings, the children said they preferred the taste of the McDonald's-branded burgers, carrots, and apple juice in the vast majority of tests.
