Explorando a percepção do consumidor sobre diferentes tipos de chocolate

Campinas, v. 15, n. 4, p. 317-324, out./dez. 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1981-67232012005000021

Exploring consumer perception about the different types of chocolate Explorando a percepção do consumidor sobre diferentes tipos de chocolate
Autores | Authors Adriana GÁMBARO
Universidad de la República (UdelaR) Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Facultad de Química Sección Evaluación Sensorial Gral. Flores, 2124, CP: 11800 Montevideo - Uruguay e-mail: [e-mail]

Summary The Word Association technique was used to analyze the perception of 120 Uruguayan consumers concerning the different types of chocolate. Similarly, it was estimated how healthy consumers perceived dark, white and milk chocolate to be. As a generic product, chocolate was associated with good taste, positive feelings, sweetness, feelings of warmth and calories/energy. White, dark and milk chocolate were significantly associated with other concepts (creaminess, bitterness, intense taste, etc.). A cluster analysis was performed on the scores regarding the perceived healthiness as reported by the consumers. 3 clusters were identified: Cluster 1 did not perceive any of the three types of chocolate to be very healthy, Cluster 2 considered dark chocolate to be very healthy but white chocolate to be less healthy and Cluster 3 perceived the three types of chocolate as very healthy. The Word Association technique enabled us to identify the differences between the associations made by each cluster. Key words: Chocolate; Word association; Consumer studies; Qualitative techniques. Resumo A técnica de Associação de Palavras foi utilizada para analisar a percepção que 120 consumidores uruguaios tinham em relação a diferentes tipos de chocolate. Da mesma forma, estimou-se o quão saudável os consumidores percebiam cada tipo de chocolate: escuro, branco e ao leite. Como um produto genérico, o chocolate foi associado com bom gosto, sentimentos positivos, doçura, sensação de calor e