The adaptive eater: Perceived healthiness moderates the effect of the color red on consumption

•The color red reduces food intake more for unhealthy than for healthy food.•The color red guides choice behavior most for unhealthy and least for healthy food.•These effects emerge because of the associations of red with danger and stop.•These associations impact behavior only when compatible with individuals' motivation.•Individuals react adaptively to environmental color cues.

Previous studies suggest that the color red reduces food intake because it signals danger and hence acts as a consumption-stopping cue. We demonstrate that this effect cannot be generalized to just any kind of food. Consequently, we show that the color red-despite eliciting similar associations-affects behavior more strongly with regard to unhealthy (potentially harmful) food compared to healthy food. Specifically, the color red more strongly influenced the amount of unhealthy food intake (Study 1) and the choice of unhealthy food options (Study 2) compared to healthy food. Study 2 further demonstrated that the impact of color on behavior decreases gradually as food options become healthier. Moreover, the effect can be observed for subtle (Study 1) as well as salient (Study 2) color cues. These results suggest that consumers do not react in a generalized but in an adaptive way to the color red.