Colour Enhances Taste

February 2007 - An innovative new study in the Journal of Consumer Research has found that a drink's colour can influence perceptions of how it tastes more than quality or price. JoAndrea Hoegg of the University of British Columbia and Joseph W. Alba of the University of Florida altered the characteristics of cups of the same orange juice by darkening with food colouring, sweetening with sugar, or labeling with brand and quality information.

The study found that the colour of the juice had a huge effect on perceptions of taste; participants perceiving non-existent differences when given two cups with one artificially darkened. However, the same group failed to perceive taste differences when given cups of the same color with one sweetened. Brand name influenced people's preferences for one cup over another, but labeling one a premium brand and the other an inexpensive store brand had no effect on perceptions of taste.

The researchers explain:

"Perceptual discrimination is fundamental to rational choice in many product categories yet rarely examined in consumer research. The present research investigates discrimination as it pertains to consumers' ability to identify difference - or the lack thereof - among gustatory stimuli.

"It seems unlikely that our consumers deliberately eschewed taste for colour as a basis for discrimination. Moreover, our consumers succumbed to the influence of colour but were less influenced by the powerful lure of brand and price information."

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