Chocolate culture: Preferences, emotional implications and awareness of Italian consumers

Abstract

This paper analyses the preferences and emotional connotations of Italian consumers towards different chocolate types and assesses which label information consumers take into consideration during the purchasing process. A survey was conducted to collect data from 390 respondents from two different Italian chocolate production regions (Sicily and Piedmont). The results show that overall, consumers prefer dark, extra-dark and milk chocolate. However, a significantly higher percentage of women and men from Piedmont prefer “Gianduia” (hazelnut-based chocolate), when compared to Sicilians, whereas the type of chocolate formats preferred by consumers differs by gender (P < 0.05). Different attitudes before or after chocolate consumption are closely related to a certain type of product, in which gender and the geographical aspect are key influencing factors. Women and men from Piedmont feel unpleasant emotions towards chocolate before and after consumption, this was observed in the correlation analysis where positive correlations between anger emotions before consuming chocolate with guilty and sad emotions after consumption were noted in women and men, respectively (P < 0.05). In contrast, no significant correlations between feelings reported before and after chocolate consumption of Sicilian men was observed. During decision making, more than 40% of participants are aware of the cocoa quantity, nutritional information and fair-trade certification on the chocolate label. Our findings provide an empirical basis to inform the chocolate industry regarding consumer attitudes towards chocolate, to raise awareness of the social dimension in food labelling and to provide a baseline for the choice of a marketing communication strategy which plays upon emotional claims.