Lead researcher, Allison Brown was joined by Helene Hopfer, assistant professor of food science, and Alyssa Bakke, sensory scientist in the Sensory Evaluation Center at Penn State<\/a> to conduct the mixed-method study, which involved a \u201cprojective mapping\u201d activity and focus groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Projective mapping is a technique in which consumers group products on a sheet of paper based upon similarities and differences in the products. They could also add words to explain their groupings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this study, participants mapped 47 different chocolate product stickers on a piece of paper and brought these maps to the focus groups, where they discussed their reasons for putting the chocolates into categories they named \u201cartisan,\u201d \u201cHalloween candy\u201d or \u201cspecial occasion,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the second half of the focus groups, participants tasted 5 different chocolate bars from the 3 categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Participants gave their opinions on flavor, packaging, sustainability labels and other aspects that they found to be appealing and unappealing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These discussions were coded to determine themes, which fell into three main categories of attributes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, participants favoured extrinsic cues, such as packaging over intrinsic cues, such as flavour to judge the quality of the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold foil, fancy labels and a story behind the product are the characteristics premium chocolate consumers desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consumers also associated high-quality chocolate when the percentage of cocoa content is higher on the label and additional ingredients such as sea salt, almonds or fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Products which were more expensive, available only in specialty shops were also seen to be of a higher quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sustainability labels, such as \u201cOrganic\u201d and \u201cFair Trade,\u201d piqued some participants\u2019 interest, while others distrusted their presence on the chocolate bar. These attitudes were reflected in participants\u2019 willingness to pay for products with certifications, whilst some participants indicated they would spend more for these products, others would not pay more for chocolate with sustainability labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consumers placed the chocolate bars with a meaningful story behind it a higher value. The Endangered Species bar was a hit because its label indicates that proceeds support wildlife conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Positive childhood experiences is also what the consumers look for in chocolate products. Chocolate flavors or packaging with happy memories were highly sought after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Allison Brown said the study, which is published in the journal PLOS ONE<\/a>, will help craft chocolate companies with their product development and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Allison](\"https:\/\/news.psu.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/threshold-768\/public\/Allison%20Brown%20Focus%20Group%20Coding.jpeg?itok=KnkTSaX8\")
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