Linguistic False Friends and Expected Food Markets: What can Make Consumers Not Choose Your Product?

Many researches have been done concerning the study of parameters which make people choose or not such product on the market. Concerning food industry, scientists have been involved in the analysis of technical parameters (nutrition, health characteristics) and their perception by the consumer, and in the analysis of psycho-sociological parameters linked with the perception of the product, or emotion associated with food or its environment. Other parameters investigated are suspicion of novelties, adherence to technology or to natural food, enjoyment, necessity. But what about the effect of words from the socio-psycholinguistic standpoint? It seems to be poorly investigated. Some claims: “It doesn’t matter how important the brand name is to the company, it’s what it means to the public that counts”. Concerning the foreign migration of brands (the use of a brand from one country to another), some psychological functions associated with language are weakened in the communication process. If an undesirable link is built between the concept of the brand and another one in the target foreign market, this can come from some communication channels detailed in this study. The weakened psychological functions can be some of the causes, and the undesirable link built through the communication channels is the consequence. It is shown why unexpected links between the brand (or the product name) and an undesirable concept must be looked for in six dimensions (academic, common, popular, rude language, slang, and “no meaning” language), and how an adapted advertisement campaign can enforced the psychological functions associated with language.agronomy, product, market, marketing, food industry perception, psycholinguistic linguistic communication, language, foreign migration, brands, homonym, paronym, neograph, Consumer/Household Economics,

Consumer vs producer misperception: the case of French wine

Aims: The study aimed at assessing the similarities and the differences between French wine producers’ perception of Belarusian consumers and the actual behavior of Belarusian consumers. Study design: Questionnaires filled in individually were used to compare consumers and producers’ perception. The questionnaire was made up of general questions addressing socio-demographic data, the kind of beverage preferred, the frequency of consumption of wine, the type of wine preferred, the origin of the wine preferred (producer country), the price and the criteria for purchasing wine. The aim was to get to know their profiles, their habits regarding purchasing and consuming alcohol and more specifically wine. Place and Duration of Study: Consumer survey was undertaken in 2018 in Belarus and producers survey was undertaken in 2019 in France. Methodology: Subjects were all volunteers. Belarussian consumer subjects were healthy (especially no addiction to alcohol, no food disorders) and adult. French participants were experienced producers or novices separated in two sub-samples. Comparison between answers used t-test and z-test. Results: Producers have a correct representation of the type of wine sought by Belarusian consumers and of the criteria to select it but misperceive who shop for wine and how it is consumed. In addition, French producers imagine their wine to be preferred while it is this of Moldavia. Conclusion: This may lead the producers to offer the wrong product for the wrong consumer target and contribute to explain why French wines only ranked fourth regarding importation of wine in Belarus while France is the world's leading wine exporter. This also suggests that the teaching program in French wine schools might be adapted

Intersubjectivity and food purchasing: modeling the intent to buy

Aims: A previous study showed that Intersubjectivity Theory could explain how consumers could appreciate a food product when looking at the packaging and reading the brand. Two samples of subjects, English and French consumers, were individually presented first with a foreign language food product and then with a native language food product. Their reaction and perception were analyzed in the light of Intersubjectivity theory. However, the main limitation of the previous study addressed the psychosocial value carried by the foreign products: the product presented to French subjects had a sexual connotation and not this for the English. The present study intended to analyze this potential bias. Study Design: For the present study, a new sample of English subjects were individually presented with a foreign language food product having a sexual connotation. Reactions and perceptions were analyzed applying the protocol of the previous study and results were compared in order to analyze the aforementioned potential bias. Place and Duration of Study: Subjects were individually met in London in 2019 for the experiment. Methodology: Subjects were selected as in the previous study: volunteer, healthy adults, native English language (N=20, 60% male, average age: 35 years old, middle class). Their spontaneous reaction was observed and they had to fill in the questionnaire addressing intersubjective perspectives regarding the product. Answers were ticked on a Likert scale and data were compared with that of the previous study. Results: The results confirmed the previous study: the comparison of the percentage of responses per questions and of the mean scores showed no significant difference between previous and current studies. This showed that no bias was induced by the psychosocial value carried by the foreign product. Conclusion: The model developed on the basis of Intersubjectivity Theory explains the process of intent to buy in terms of positive coherence between the intersubjective dimensions. It also shows that analyzing the consumers’ direct perception of the product does not predict their intent to buy. These findings are of great importance for food producers and marketers

Linguistic False Friends and Expected Food Markets: What can Make Consumers Not Choose Your Product?

Many researches have been done concerning the study of parameters which make people choose or not such product on the market. Concerning food industry, scientists have been involved in the analysis of technical parameters (nutrition, health characteristics) and their perception by the consumer, and in the analysis of psycho-sociological parameters linked with the perception of the product, or emotion associated with food or its environment. Other parameters investigated are suspicion of novelties, adherence to technology or to natural food, enjoyment, necessity. But what about the effect of words from the socio-psycholinguistic standpoint? It seems to be poorly investigated. Some claims: “It doesn’t matter how important the brand name is to the company, it’s what it means to the public that counts”. Concerning the foreign migration of brands (the use of a brand from one country to another), some psychological functions associated with language are weakened in the communication process. If an undesirable link is built between the concept of the brand and another one in the target foreign market, this can come from some communication channels detailed in this study. The weakened psychological functions can be some of the causes, and the undesirable link built through the communication channels is the consequence. It is shown why unexpected links between the brand (or the product name) and an undesirable concept must be looked for in six dimensions (academic, common, popular, rude language, slang, and “no meaning” language), and how an adapted advertisement campaign can enforced the psychological functions associated with language