Beyond the label: how ingredient illustrations stir engagement – a neurocognitive exploration

Purpose Consumers rapidly assess packaging through a mix of conscious and unconscious processes, which play a crucial role in shaping their engagement and purchase decisions. The purpose of this study is to explain how visual realism versus caricature in ingredient-based front-of-pack illustrations differentially activates dual cognitive–affective processing routes and shapes multidimensional consumer engagement. Design/methodology/approach Across four complementary studies, this study investigates how illustration type influences preference (behavioral engagement), visual attention (cognitive engagement), emotional intensity (emotional engagement), cognitive load (cognitive engagement) and implicit evaluations (emotional engagement). First, a within-subject behavioral experiment assessed preferences for realistic versus caricatured illustrations across two product categories. Next, neurometric and non-neurometric tools employing eye-tracking, electroencephalography and implicit association tests measured visual attention, cognitive load, emotional intensity, implicit evaluation through emotional association, during exposure to stimuli. The design ensured methodological triangulation, allowing for rich, converging insights into how different illustration styles function as visual heuristics in consumer engagement. Findings Challenging prior findings, the results reveal that caricatured ingredient illustrations evoke positive cognitive, emotional and behavioral engagements than realistic illustrations. By positioning these diverse measures within a single consumer engagement framework, the present research contributes novel empirical insights to the consumer behavior literature by elucidating how ingredient-based illustrations impact consumer engagement, especially in online shopping contexts where quick, affect-driven judgments dominate. Practical implications The research also offers novel managerial implications for product and brand managers; by emphasizing how caricatured ingredient-based illustrations may strengthen the connection between ingredient and its perceived authenticity, enhancing consumer engagement through more intuitive and emotionally engaging visuals. Originality/value The present research offers a novel examination of how FOP ingredient illustrations, realistic versus caricatured, function as visual heuristics in consumer engagement, framed through dual process theory and neuroscientific evidence. While prior studies emphasize realism as a marker of credibility, the findings challenge this assumption, showing that caricatured illustrations evoke stronger emotional and cognitive responses. By integrating behavioral and neuroscientific methods, the study provides new empirical insights into how illustration styles shape emotional, behavioral and cognitive engagements particularly in online shopping environments. From a managerial perspective, the results highlight how caricatured visuals can enhance intuitive comprehension and emotional resonance, reinforcing ingredient benefit associations in consumers’ minds.