Shades of meaning: The effect of color and flavor names on consumer choice
Miller and Kahn build on Grice's theory of conversational implicature. They propose that consumers react favourably to unusual colour or flavour names, such as blue haze or Alpine snow, because they expect marketing messages to convey useful information. When a message does not meet expectations, consumers search for the reason, which produces additional positive attributions about the product and a more favourable response. A series of experiments supports the proposal and rules out some alternative explanations.
Miller and Kahn build on Grice's theory of conversational implicature. They propose that consumers react favourably to unusual colour or flavour names, such as blue haze or Alpine snow, because they expect marketing messages to convey useful information. When a message does not meet expectations, consumers search for the reason, which produces additional positive attributions about the product and a more favourable response. A series of experiments supports the proposal and rules out some alternative explanations.
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Miller, E. G., & Kahn, B. E. (2005). Shades of meaning: The effect of color and flavor names on consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(1), 86-92. doi:10.1086/429602