The perception of palm oil by Millennials: A semantic differential approach

Abstract

The study aims at exploring the consumer perception of products containing palm oil, considering the impact on choices by the recent media campaign on the sub-ject. The exploratory analysis is focused on Millennials and uses the semantic dif-ferential methodology. The data are processed using a Multiple Factor Analysis. Moreover, homogeneous clusters of consumers are obtained by using hierarchical clustering on principal components. The results show that the sample is divided in three clusters: the first pays a lot of attention towards the absence of palm oil in food products, considering this aspect as a sign of a healthier product, more natu-ral and with a higher quality; the second shows a higher environmental sensibility; the third does not pay any attention to the absence of palm oil in food products, and considers the issue of its absence as a trend, a sort of status symbol and some-thing that negatively impacts the taste of certain foods.