Green color in packaging: A signal for
healthy food choices
1. Introduction 2. Research Question 3. Theoretical Background 4. Hypotheses 5. Conceptual Model 6. Methodology 7. Results 8. Discussion 9. Limitations 10. Implications 11. Future research
12. Concerns, additional remarks
1.Introduction
● An increase in obesity rates has been observed
● In 2008, 1.46 billion adults were overweight, 502 million adults suffered from obesity (Swinburn et al., 2011)
● One reason behind overconsumption :
● How food is promoted by marketing techniques (Jackson et al., 2014)
● Labels, prices, packaging healthy / unhealthy categorization (Chandon & Wansink, 2007)
2.Research question
“In what extent does green color influence
Packaging
❖ Functions :
■ Contain and protect products ■ Promote products
■ Facilitate storage, use and convenience of products
❖ “Silent salesman” (Hine, 1997) :
■ Communicating the brand message ■ Packaging might set expectations
■ Affect consumers’ perceptions at the moment of truth (Silayoi &
Color
❖ Hue, lightness, chroma, and saturation : typologies characterizing how color looks like (Gorn et al.,1997)
❖ Associations with products can be occured (Garber et al., 2000) ❖ Attract consumers’ attention
❖ Decisive role in purchasing decisions
❖ Green color has an approach-oriented meaning (Elliot et al., 2007)
❖ Green colors in packaging can be associated with healthiness (Madden
et al., 2000)
Time pressure
❖ Shopping under time pressure less time in making decisions (Silayoi & Speece, 2004)
❖ Choices without conscious awareness more automatic method (Cohen & Babey, 2012)
4.Hypotheses
H1: Green color in packaging and perceived healthiness is positively related.
H2: Time pressure and preference for a healthy alternative are negatively
related.
H3: The relationship between green color in packaging and healthy food
6.Methodology
❖ Online survey (Qualtrics) ❖ 2 conditions
■ Time pressure (90 participants)
■ Without time pressure (97 participants)
❖ Participants had to choose among 3 packages of milk: ■ Dark green
■ Light green ■ White
❖ Evaluation of each of the products (7-point Likert scale)
■ 10 statements describing perceived healthiness (Nutritional, Natural, Unhealthy etc)
Methodology
Condition 1: Time pressure
Condition 2:
7.Results
❖ Repeated measures ANOVA
■ Mean score for dark green :
4.05
■ Mean score for light green :
4.77
■ Mean score for white :
4.02
Results
❖ X square test
❖ Under time pressure:
■ 27,8% dark green
■ 55,6% light green
■ 16,7% white
❖ Without time pressure:
8.Discussion
❖ Green color in packaging has positive influence on perceived healthiness
■ Light green seems to be the “strongest” color in contrast to other two
(dark green, white)
❖ People tend to base their decisions on heuristic cues when time is limited
■ In line with the theory of Cohen and Babey (2012)
■ Since there was no time to read nutritional information,participants’
judgment based on color
❖ Eye-catching and bright colors grab consumers’ attention
9.Limitations
❖ Nutrition information
■ Missing nutritional information in the condition “without time
pressure” ❖ Online survey
■ Participants were not under “real” time pressure
❖ Package design
■ Products are not realistic enough (actual products)
10.Implications
❖ Building the bridge for the existing gap in the bibliography concerning green color in packaging and purchasing decisions under time pressure ❖ Even if green is associated with health, different shapes of green can have
more positive effects
❖ Light green package perceived to be healthier than dark green
11.Future research
❖ Field experiment should be conducted (supermarkets)
■ People participate in real-life situations
❖ More realistic products
■ Usage of well-known brands
❖ Biggest variety of products
12.Concerns, additional remarks
❖ In general, the research was about green color. However, it was interesting to investigate two different shades of green (few research compared different shades of green)
❖ Nutrition information was not appeared in the condition “without time pressure” : The reason behind this concept is the fact that if that
occured(white being the healthiest), it would be like “forcing” and
manipulating participants choosing the white option (since they would have plenty of time to read the labels and understand that white was the
healthiest).
