Beyond the food label itself: How does color affect attention to information on food labels and preference for food attributes?

Other than the food attribute/quality information, the design of food labels involves many other essential factors, such as color that may affect consumer choice decision. How food label color affects the decision process, cognitive effort, and preference when consumers shop for food products remains unknown. This study examined the impact of label colors (red or blue) on consumers' cognitive effort and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for food label attributes when they made choices among products carrying multiple attribute information. Conducting two versions of surveys that feature two different colors of product labels, this study found that red labels led to longer response time in decision-making than do blue labels. While a red label might exert extra cognitive effort on consumers, it also induced consumers to consider more attributes and maintain a relatively stable attendance level when they were faced with many choice tasks. Results also revealed that color significantly affected WTP estimates for certain attribute on food labels. The findings of this study bear important implications regarding food label color design for food retailers and policymakers when they are developing food label programs.