Emoji for Food and Beverage Research: Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance Meanings and Appropriateness for Use

Abstract

Emoji have been argued to have considerable potential for emotion research but are struggling with uptake in part because knowledge about their meaning is lacking. The present research included 24 emoji (14 facial, 10 non-facial) which were characterized using the PAD model (Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance) of human affect by 165 consumers in New Zealand and 861 consumers in the UK. The results from the two countries were remarkably similar and contributed further evidence that emoji are suitable for cross-cultural research. While significant differences between the emoji were established for each of the PAD dimensions, the mean scores differed most on the Pleasure dimension (positive to negative), then on the Arousal dimension (activated to deactivated), and lastly on the Dominance dimension (dominance to submissive). The research also directly measured the perceived appropriateness of the 24 emoji for use with foods and beverages. The emoji face savoring food, clapping hands and party popper were in the top-5 for the highest appropriateness in food and beverage context for both studies, as was a strong negative expression linked to rejection (Study 1: face vomiting; Study 2: nauseated face). On the other hand, zzz and oncoming fist were considered as the least appropriate to be used in a food and beverage context in both studies. Again, the results from the UK and NZ were in good agreement and identified similar groups of emoji as most and least suitable for food-related consumer research.

Keywords: PAD model; arousal; consumer research; dominance; emoji; emotions; pleasure.

Figure 1

Emoji included in the research.

Figure 2

Emoji characterization by PAD dimensions for: (a) Study 1 (NZ) and (b) Study 2 (UK). Pleasure—low anchor (1) is associated with pleasure and high anchor (9) is associated with displeasure; Arousal—low anchor (1) is associated with arousal and high anchor (9) is associated with nonarousal (A); Dominance—low anchor (1) is associated with dominance and high anchor (9) is associated with submissiveness. Means are sorted by value for Pleasure within studies.

Figure 3

Two-dimensional spaces following Principal Components Analysis for PAD ratings of 24 emoji in Study 1 (NZ, left) and Study 2 (UK, right). (a) Variables plot spanned by PC1 and PC2, and (b) Observations plot spanned by PC1 and PC2. For variables plot, colors are used to visually highlight the PAD dimensions, with blue for P1 to P6, green for A1 to A6 and red for D1 to D6.