Colored backgrounds affect the attractiveness of fresh produce, but not it's perceived color

- Colored backgrounds do not affect direct perception of vegetables.
- Colored backgrounds affect perceived attractiveness of vegetables.
- Optimal background colors differ substantially for various vegetables.
- It is difficult to find an optimal background for displaying multiple vegetables.

The color of the background on which products are presented may affect their perceived attractiveness. We presented five different vegetables (tomato, carrot, yellow bell pepper, cucumber, eggplant) on four different background colors (orange or blue, either light or dark). Although the backgrounds did not affect the direct color perception of the vegetables, they did affect their perceived attractiveness, with quite different backgrounds proving optimal for the various vegetables. These outcomes suggest that it is difficult to find non-neutral background colors on which a large number of vegetables can be presented in an optimal way.