Why a 'light' product package should not be light blue: Effects of package colour on perceived healthiness and attractiveness of sugar- and fat-reduced products

Healthier foods (e.g. 'light' products with low fat or sugar content) often lead to lower hedonic evaluation and decreased satiating properties, putting these products at a sensory disadvantage compared to their regular counterparts. Nudging consumers towards healthy foods by making healthy foods more attractive may facilitate healthier food choices. Package colour communicates product properties and could be used to make a healthy product more attractive. Healthier alternatives are typically packaged in less vibrantly coloured, watered-down packages compared to their regular counterparts. Does this communicate the intended message? To investigate effects of package colour on perceived healthiness, attractiveness and sensory expectations and perception of food products both explicitly and implicitly. We investigated effects of package hue (green/purple, blue, red), brightness and saturation on expected (experiment 1) and perceived (experiment 2) product properties after tasting, for a low-sugar dairy drink (n =148) and low-fat sausage (n = 140). Implicit Association Tests (IATs) were used to measure strength of associations between package colouring cues and perceived attractiveness and healthiness of the products. Effects of package colour were stronger for sensory expectations than for perceptions after tasting. A combination of colour properties (hue, brightness and/or saturation) rendered packaging more attractive and increased sensory evaluation. Implicitly, watered-down coloured 'healthier' package versions were strongly associated with healthiness whereas 'regular' packages were strongly associated with attractiveness. Packaging healthier alternatives in warmer, saturated, less bright coloured packages (more similar to regular products) explicitly enhances sensory expectations and perceptions, and implicitly improves attractiveness, potentially making them more appealing to consumers. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.