Business Commons^™

Package Design Vs. Customer Reviews: A Comparative Study On Influences In Fragrance Buying Decisions, Sarah Willis

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of customer reviews, compared to package design, on the fragrance buying decisions of women aged eighteen to twenty-five. The researcher conducted two surveys: the first asked thirty-five random women to choose between two equally priced, but differently designed, perfumes (Perfume X and Perfume Z). This first group’s preference was Perfume X, with 57.14% of participants choosing this product. The second survey asked a different group of thirty-five random women to choose between the same two perfumes, but with the addition of unequally favorable customer reviews. Group 2 participants preferred the …

A Study Of Visual Puffery In Fragrance Advertising: Is The Message Sent Stronger Than The Actual Scent?, Mark Toncar, Marc Fetscherin

Faculty Publications

Purpose - This paper investigates visual exaggerations of fragrance advertisements by comparing subjects’ expectations resulting from print ads to their subsequent product evaluations. It then considers whether the actual scents fall short, meet or exceed these expectations.

Design/methodology/approach - By means of a semiotic analysis we capture the corresponding literary attributes of the ads to develop adjective pairs describing the meaning of the ads. Interviews are conducted to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the fragrance ads and we supplement these findings by performing a blind olfactory product evaluation of the fragrances. Paired sample t-tests are used to compare …