Effect of consumer dissonance on product packaging: an empirical study of distance learning students in Lagos, Nigeria

The Axiom ‘seeing is believing’ is becoming no more imperative with the packaging of consumable goods after consumers’ experience with a brand. There is no doubt that this is one of the key drivers of brand switching. This research evaluates the effect of product packaging on post-purchase decisions of consumable products in Nigeria. Cognitive dissonance is a situation where consumers’ needs are not met and the consumer’s experience is far below the expectation. This could be a result of the failure of the packaging to adequately protect the product content; the packaging not drawing attention to the product, or it could not flaunt the egoistic nature of the consumer in terms of novelty where the consumer expected to portray his/her social class attribute. Do marketers adequately exploit the impacts/benefits of packaging to reduce consumer dissonance? What are the aftermaths of consumer dissonance on product packaging? A survey was conducted amongst marketers, distributors, and consumers of PZ Cussons PLC using random sampling. The relationships between responses were assessed and the results are presented and discussed. This study affirms that marketers should take advantage of packaging attributes to prevent or reduce the incidence of consumer dissonance. Hence, it is suggested that marketers should endeavor to invest more in product packaging design in order to gain consumer satisfaction and loyalty which could result in increased purchases.