The color red reduces snack food and soft drink intake
Oliver Genschow, Leonie Reutner and Michaela Wänke start from evidence that red prompts avoidance motivation across contexts and test it on eating and drinking in two studies. Participants drank less from a red labelled cup than from a blue one, and ate less snack food from a red plate than from a blue or white plate. The authors suggest that red works as a subtle stop signal, operating outside focused awareness, that reduces incidental food and drink intake.
Oliver Genschow, Leonie Reutner and Michaela Wänke start from evidence that red prompts avoidance motivation across contexts and test it on eating and drinking in two studies. Participants drank less from a red labelled cup than from a blue one, and ate less snack food from a red plate than from a blue or white plate. The authors suggest that red works as a subtle stop signal, operating outside focused awareness, that reduces incidental food and drink intake.
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-24 via Europe PMC (PMID 22245725).
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Genschow, O., Reutner, L., & Wänke, M. (2012). The color red reduces snack food and soft drink intake. Appetite, 58(2), 699-702. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.12.023