title: The color red reduces snack food and soft drink intake.
abstract: Based on evidence that the color red elicits avoidance motivation across contexts (Mehta & Zhu, 2009), two studies investigated the effect of the color red on snack food and soft drink consumption. In line with our hypothesis, participants drank less from a red labeled cup than from a blue labeled cup (Study 1), and ate less snack food from a red plate than from a blue or white plate (Study 2). The results suggest that red functions as a subtle stop signal that works outside of focused awareness and thereby reduces incidental food and drink intake.
authors.affiliation: University of Basel, Department of Social and Economic Psychology, Missionsstrasse 62A, 4055 Basel, Switzerland. oliver.genschow@unibas.ch
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Genschow
authors.forename: Leonie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reutner
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wänke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002253:Carbonated Beverages; D003116:Color; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception