title: Colour correct: the interactive effects of food label nutrition colouring schemes and food category healthiness on health perceptions.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of food label nutrition colouring schemes in interaction with food category healthiness on consumers' perceptions of food healthiness. Three streams of colour theory (colour attention, colour association and colour approach-avoidance) in interaction with heuristic processing theory provide consonant predictions and explanations for the underlying psychological processes.
  
  
  
  A 2 (food category healthiness: healthy v. unhealthy)×3 (food label nutrient colouring schemes: healthy=green, unhealthy=red (HGUR) v. healthy=red, unhealthy=green (HRUG) v. no colour (control)) between-subjects design was used.
  
  
  
  The research setting was a randomised-controlled experiment using varying formats of food packages and nutritional information colouring.
  
  
  
  Respondents (n 196) sourced from a national consumer panel, USA.
  
  
  
  The findings suggest that, for healthy foods, the nutritional colouring schemes reduced perceived healthiness, irrespective of which nutrients were coloured red or green (healthinesscontrol=4·86; healthinessHGUR=4·10; healthinessHRUG=3·70). In contrast, for unhealthy foods, there was no significant difference in perceptions of food healthiness when comparing different colouring schemes against the control.
  
  
  
  The results make an important qualification to the common belief that colour coding can enhance the correct interpretation of nutrition information and suggest that this incentive may not necessarily support healthier food choices in all situations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics,University of Melbourne,Level 10,198 Berkeley Street,Melbourne,VIC 3010,Australia.
authors.forename: Gergely
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5222-1636
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nyilasy
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics,University of Melbourne,Level 10,198 Berkeley Street,Melbourne,VIC 3010,Australia.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics,University of Melbourne,Level 10,198 Berkeley Street,Melbourne,VIC 3010,Australia.
authors.forename: Anish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nagpal
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics,University of Melbourne,Level 10,198 Berkeley Street,Melbourne,VIC 3010,Australia.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D003116:Color; D005260:Female; D005515:Food Labeling; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
keywords: Colour theory; Food labelling; Food marketing; Heuristic processing; Nutritional information