A new study from Cornell University suggests that the green calorie labels on food packaging may influence consumer perceptions of a product’s healthfulness—regardless of its nutritional value. The research, published in Health Communication, found that consumers were more likely to view a candy bar as healthier when its calorie label was green rather than red, even though the calorie count remained the same.
Color Influences Perception of Nutrition
As front-of-package calorie labels become more common, particularly on snack foods, researchers are raising concerns about how color can shape consumer decision-making. Jonathon Schuldt, assistant professor of communication at Cornell and director of the Social Cognition and Communication Lab, led the study and pointed out little oversight regarding these labels.
“Our research suggests that the color of calorie labels may affect whether people perceive the food as healthy, over and above the actual nutritional information conveyed by the label, such as calorie content,” Schuldt explained.
To test this theory, Schuldt and his team asked 93 university students to imagine they were hungry while waiting in a grocery checkout line. Participants were shown an image of a candy bar with either a red or green calorie label and were then asked to assess its calorie content and overall healthfulness. The results showed that the green-labeled bar was perceived as healthier than the red-labeled one despite having the same number of calories.
Green Calorie Labels Especially Misleading for Health-Conscious Consumers
In a second experiment, 39 online participants were shown candy bars with either green or white calorie labels. The researchers also measured the importance each participant placed on healthy eating.
They found that those who valued nutrition were more likely to perceive a candy bar with a white label as unhealthy. However, this perception disappeared when the same candy had a green label.
“The green calorie labels buffer relatively poor nutrition foods from appearing less healthful among those especially concerned with healthy eating,” Schuldt noted.
Implications for Food Labeling Policies
The findings have significant implications for food labeling policies, particularly as government agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, consider standardizing front-of-package calorie labels. Some major brands, such as M&Ms and Snickers, already use green calorie flags on their packaging, making them more noticeable to consumers at checkout.
“As policymakers look at developing a uniform front-of-package labeling system for the U.S. marketplace, these findings suggest that the design and color of the labels may deserve as much attention as the nutritional information they convey,” Schuldt said.
The study raises questions about whether food manufacturers could use color to influence consumer perception, highlighting the need for greater oversight in how calorie labels are designed and displayed.
Reference; Jonathon P. Schuldt. Does Green Mean Healthy? Nutrition Label Color Affects Perceptions of Healthfulness. Health Communication, 2013
