A red code triggers an unintended approach motivation toward sweet ultra-processed foods: Possible implications for front-of-pack labels

• Published in: Food quality and preference Vol. 79; p. 103784
• Main Authors: Lemos, Thayane C., Almo, André, Campagnoli, Rafaela R., Pereira, Mirtes G., Oliveira, Leticia, Volchan, Eliane, Krutman, Laura, Delgado, Rafael, Fernández-Santaella, M. Carmen, Khandpur, Neha, David, Isabel A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2020
• Subjects: EPN; Event-related potentials; Front-of-pack nutrition labels; Taste-visual cross-modal effects; Ultra-processed food products; Event-related potentials; EPN; Taste-visual cross-modal effects; Front-of-pack nutrition labels; Ultra-processed food products
• ISSN: 0950-3293; 1873-6343
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2019.103784

•A red prime increased pleasantness ratings for sweet ultra-processed foods (UPP).•A red prime increased brain’s motivational processing toward sweet UPP.•Visual-taste cross-modal associations may trigger approach dispositions toward UPP.•Efficacy of red-coded front-of-pack labels might be lower than expected.
Front-of-package labels (FOPL) are recommended to reduce consumer intake of ultra-processed food products (UPP). The multiple traffic-light label is one example of FOPL that indicates the content of target nutrients in products by displaying red (high), amber (medium), and/or green (low) color-coding. The red code may implicitly enhance sweetness perception and approach dispositions toward sweet UPP via cross-modal visual-taste interactions. We conducted two experiments to examine the possibility of contradictory influence of explicitly learned and implicit cross-modal associations on the emotional responses evoked by UPP pictures. In both experiments, we first explicitly associated the color codes with health-related meanings. In Experiment I (n = 78), a psychometric tool estimated the emotional responses (pleasantness and arousal ratings) evoked by UPP pictures when preceded by red, amber, or green color-codes. In Experiment II (n = 24), we recorded participants’ electrocortical brain activity to assess the early posterior negativity (EPN) component as an index of the emotional responses to UPP. The reported pleasantness (Experiment I) and the EPN amplitude (Experiment II) were greater for sweet UPP relative to salty UPP when primed with red codes but not when primed with green or amber. A red code increased positive emotions toward sweet UPP despite its explicit association with increased health-risks. Thus, the use of multiple traffic-lights might lead to an unintended implicit approach behavior toward sweet UPP. Designers, researchers, and policy makers may consider color-taste cross-modal associations when designing, testing, and applying FOPL.