title: The meaning of colours in nutrition labelling in the context of expert and consumer criteria of evaluating food product healthfulness.
abstract: Qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted to explore the effect of front-of-pack nutrition labels on the perceived healthfulness of food products. Consumers were found to hold beliefs about colours and their fit to product categories that influence the assessment process. Consumers associate certain colours with product healthfulness. Yellow, blue, green and red were found to be evocative of health. Heather, pink and celadon suggested an artificial thus unhealthful product. The impact of labels on healthfulness assessment was observed only in the unhealthful category. The findings show the complexity of psychological processes in the perception of food healthfulness.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland grazyna.wasowicz@psych.uw.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Grażyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wąsowicz
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Styśko-Kunkowska
authors.affiliation: MAPP Centre for Research on Customer Relations in the Food Sector, Aarhus University, Denmark.
authors.forename: Klaus G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Grunert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003118:Color Perception; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005515:Food Labeling; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: beliefs; food; health promotion; qualitative methods; quantitative methods