Do food-related emotional associations differ with socio-economic status? An exploratory qualitative study with Brazilian consumers

Contextual and individual variables have been shown to play a key role in shifting consumers' emotional reaction to food products. Socio-economic status (SES) influences consumer past and present experiences with food products, as well as the social and personal meanings attached to foods, which can strongly affect their emotional associations. In this context, the aim of the present work was to explore differences in food-related emotional associations with foods of Brazilian consumers from low and middle/high SES. A total of 300 Brazilian participants of different SES were asked to complete four free-listing tasks related to the emotions they associated with the foods they liked the most/least and the foods they associated with positive/negative emotions. Participants elicited a wide range of associations, most of which were related to moods and emotions. The identified moods and emotions have been included in word-based emotion questionnaires. Although similar terms were elicited by both SES groups, differences in their frequency of mention were found. In addition, SES groups also differed in the foods they associated with positive and negative emotions, which could be explained by differences in their eating patterns. Results stress the need to further study the influence of SES on food-related emotional associations.