The Effects of Hedonic and Nutritional Claims on Consumers’ Pain of Paying

ABSTRACT Food gives consumers a nourishing and hedonic experience; however, paying for food and groceries creates a negative emotion that decreases consumers’ buying experience. This research uses claims to emphasize food’s nutritional or hedonic appeal, which was expected to reduce the pain of paying. This study uses a mixed model experiment to measure the pain of paying for five products (i.e., chips, juice, meat, yogurt, and apple). The information placed on the packages was the between-group conditions (nutritional, hedonic, and control). The participants responded differently to the nutritional or hedonic claims depending on the product. The hedonic claim decreased the pain of paying for meat, yogurt, and apple. Therefore, the pain of paying decreased in healthy food compared to food with intrinsic hedonic characteristics. Practical implications in food labeling are discussed.