Country and Gender Differences in the Color Association with Energy Drinks: A Survey in Taiwanese and Japanese Students

This study investigated differences in the color association with energy drinks between two populations in different cultures, i.e., Taiwanese and Japanese. An anonymous, self-administered paper questionnaire was administered to first- and second-year students at National Taiwan Normal University (Taiwan) and Naragakuen University (Japan). In our inter-country, gender-stratified comparison, the color selected most often in response to the question, “What color comes to your mind for energy drink label?” was red for the Taiwanese and blue for the Japanese. The color associations with energy drinks selected by 20% or more participants in at least one population and showing statistical difference were extracted as noticeable difference. The present study demonstrates that the color and energy drink functions are closely associated. Specifically, yellow and nourishment, black and stimulant, yellow and vitamin supplement, green and dietary fiber supplement, and red and iron supplement are tightly associated regardless of the country. The strong tie between cosmetic and white is specific to the Taiwanese consumers. This suggests that careful color selection based on consumers’ environmental and cultural backgrounds is important in communicating information regarding energy drink functions. It would be worth for energy drink manufacturers to consider those associations in designing labels for products.

Musical Variables and Color Association in Classical Music

As studies between behavioral neuroscience and music have become increasingly popular, color association with music has grown as a topic of interest. Many studies analyze color correlation with individual musical variables such as the speed of the music or the notes used. However, there has not been significant research comparing the influence of these variables or exploring instrumentation. Due to this apparent gap, this study addresses the question: to what extent do tempo, key, and instrumentation affect variation in colors associated with classical music created from 1750 to 1910? Data was collected from approximately 150 participants, ages 11-18, who all had musical experience. Responses were recorded through a Google Form that asked participants to listen to a 20-second clip of music and choose 1 of 14 offered colors. A Chi-Squared test was utilized to test the statistical significance of the influence of the variable groups on the tonality and brightness of color choices. It was found that only one group, instrumentation, did not have a statistically significant effect on brightness. Previous studies were reaffirmed as major keys were heavily correlated with light colors and minor keys with dark. When grouping colors by neutral, warm, and cool, tempo was found to be the most influential variable for color choice tonality. Instrumentation in both color groupings yielded similar results as there was not much variation in the colors, indicating that instrumentation does not heavily influence the color choices of the listener.

Correction to: Genetic and clinical characterization of BRCA-associated hereditary breast and ovarian cancer in Navarra (Spain)

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors reported an error in Figure 2, where the color code of the text boxes is reversed. Figure 2-amended shows the correct color association between the text boxes and the different areas in the map: Navarra, neighbouring communities and other Spanish communities.

Development of a Sensory Method to Detect Food-Elicited Emotions Using Emotion-Color Association and Eye-Tracking

Studying consumers’ implicit emotions has been always described as a difficult and a complicated mission due to the emotions being of a non-cognitive nature. This research aims to develop a new method based on emotion-color association (ECA) to detect consumer’s implicit food-elicited emotions using an eye-tracker tool. The study was accomplished in two experiments. The first experiment intended to build a new color scale based on the emotion-color association using the eye-tracking method and a self-reported questionnaire (SRQ). The results showed that people tend to express their evoked positive emotions by choosing mostly the light colors, and favor to choose dark colors to reveal their evoked negative emotions. In the second experiment, a sensory evaluation was conducted employing the developed color scale in addition to verbal emotion-based questionnaire (VEQ) to detect the participants’ food-elicited emotions with different samples. The sensory evaluation consisted of taste, smell, and vision tests. The study demonstrated a consistency between the results of the verbal emotion questionnaire and the new color scale method. This consistency may refer to the capability of the developed scale, as a non-intrusive method that obtains prompt responses and avoids deliberate action, to rapidly detect the implicit emotions in a sensory evaluation for a better understanding of the consumer’s behavior.

ANALISIS SEMIOTIK TERHADAP IKLAN SAMPOERNA A MILD HIJAU EDISI DATENG KONDANGAN

AbstrakIklan adalah sarana komunikasi persuasif yang bertujuan mempengaruhi masyarakat untuk menggunakan jasaatau barang. Oleh karenanya, diperlukan sebuah iklan efektif untuk mampu meyakinkan dan mempersuasikhalayak. Peneliti memfokuskan pada iklan rokok Sampoerna A Mild Hijau karena merupakan salah satu produkyang terkenal dan terkemuka di Indonesia. Dalam iklan Sampoerna A Mild Hijau edisi Dateng Kondangan,terdapat beberapa simbol atau tanda yang disampaikan secara tersirat melalui teks, audio, maupun visualyang didalamnya sebenarnya melibatkan brand atau kompetitor lain. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untukmelihat pemaknaan simbol-simbol iklan Sampoerna Hijau versi “Dateng Kondangan” dalam kajian semiotika.Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode analisis semiotik model Roland Barthes. Lewat model Roland Barthes, peneliti mampu mengungkap makna denotasi, konotasi, dan mitos. Penelitian ini menemukan data bahwa iklan tersebut menggambarkan persainganproduk rokok di Indonesia yang diwakili oleh brand kompetitor dimana asosiasi warna merah (Gudang GaramMerah), warna coklat (Djarum Coklat), dan hijau (Sampoerna Hijau).Kata Kunci : Semiotika, Iklan Sampoerna, IklanAbstractsAdvertising is the medium of persuasive communication that aims to influence people to use services or goods. Therefore, an effective advertisement is required to be able to convince and persuade audiences.The researcher focused on Sampoerna A Mild Green cigarette advertisement because it is one of the famousand leading products in Indonesia. There are brand competitor’s symbols and signs that implicitly projectedthroughout the text, audio and visual contents.The aim of this research is to depict the symbols’s meanings ofthis advertisement. This research uses qualitative approach. The research method used is semiotic analysismethod of Roland Barthes model. Through the model Roland Barthes, researchers are able to uncover themeaning of denotation, connotation, and myth. This research finds the data that the advertisement describescompetition of cigarette product in Indonesia represented by competitor brand where red color association (Gudang Garam Merah), brown color (Djarum Coklat), and green (Sampoerna Hijau).Keywords: Semiotics, Sampoerna Advertisement, Advertisement