ABSTRACT
This study examines the nexus between food-like onomastic features, packaging affordances, design prototypicality, and risk in non-edible personal products like liquid soap. Thus, investigating the interplay of product naming (food-like vs. non-food-like) and packaging form (dispenser presence/absence) on perceived edibility and hazardousness, motivated by concerns over consumer safety risks from confusing packaging. 80 participants (balanced gender, age 13-14) from Ekiti and Ondo States, Nigeria, rated stimuli on edibility/hazardousness (0-9 scale). Reasons include rising accidental ingestion incidents [although such has been widely reported to have happened in Nigeria], packaging cues’ role in perceptions, and gaps in understanding naming-affordance interactions. In the findings, food-like names without dispensers signal higher perceived edibility (M=8.0), posing confusion risks; dispensers reduce perceived edibility and hazardousness for food-like named products. Statistical analyses (Kruskal-Wallis χ²(3, N = 80) = 9.99, p = .019; F(1,76)=5.31, p=.02) confirm packaging-naming interactions shape risk perceptions, aligning with conceptual fluency and categorization theories. Results stress harmonizing naming and packaging design for safer non-edible products; atypical packaging with food-like cues risks confusion, necessitating careful design guidelines.
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