Table 1.

List of studies exploring the influence of packaging color on consumers healthiness perception and their key findings.

Reference	Analytical Method	Product	Country	Key Findings
Aschemann-Witzel et al. [25]	choice task and questionnaire	20 sweet and 20 salty snacks	Germany and Poland	When German consumers were explicitly instructed to make healthy food choices, color-coded nutrition labels led to healthier food choices compared to uncolored nutrition labels. This effect was stronger when the nutrition label was color-coded according to a traffic light system (green = healthy, orange = moderately healthy, red = unhealthy) than when it was monochromatic (different shades of blue). This effect was only observed in Germany and not in Poland. The presence or format of a nutrition label had no effect on the healthiness of consumer choices when consumers could choose according to their preferences.
Hallez et al. [16]	choice task and questionnaire	soft drinks, salty snacks	Belgium	Cool packaging colors, such as green and blue, compared to warm packaging colors, such as red and orange, led to higher perceptions of health and sustainability for drinks and foods. Cool packaged drinks were perceived as less tasty and were less likely to be selected compared to warm packaged drinks. This effect was not observed in the snacks category.
Huang and Lu [6]	questionnaire	milk, cereal, yogurt, potato chips, ice cream, ice tea	Canada	Utilitarian food products, which are consumed mainly to satisfy physical needs such as thirst or hunger, were perceived as healthier when the packaging color was blue compared to red. For hedonic food products, which are consumed mainly for affective pleasure, no effect of packaging color on healthiness perception was observed. Higher perceived product healthiness also led to higher purchase intention.
Kunz et al. [5]	questionnaire	snacks and drinks	Austria	A positive correlation between healthiness and tastiness was observed. Presenting the images only in grayscale vs. color had no effect on healthiness ratings. Moreover, increased versus decreased color saturation led to higher healthiness and tastiness ratings, and this effect was mediated by the perceived freshness of the products.
Mai et al. [21]	questionnaire and Implicit Association Test	pizza, chocolate, yoghurt, cream cheese, potato chips, fruit bar, juice	Germany	Light-colored product packaging led to a higher perception of healthiness, and this effect was observed even after consumers had tasted the product. However, light packaging color had a negative impact on taste, leading to lower purchase intention, especially when consumers had to make heuristic taste inferences and when health was not the primary consumption goal.
Marques da Rosa et al. [18]	questionnaire	buttery and cereal cookies	Brazil	Buttery and cereal cookies were perceived as healthier in a red-to-yellow package than in a blue-to-green package. In addition, the healthiness of cookies in angular packaging was rated higher than that of cookies in round packaging. No interaction effects were detected.
Mead and Richerson [22]	questionnaire	potato chips and nutritional bars	USA	Consumers associate vivid, highly color-saturated food packages with less healthy foods compared to less color-saturated food packages. This effect is mediated by conceptual fluency, as consumers are regularly exposed to unhealthy foods in highly saturated packaging and have learned this association. Consumers with higher levels of nutritional knowledge are less likely to judge foods based on packaging color saturation. On the contrary, consumers with high vs. low restrained eating behaviors are more likely to make inferences about the healthiness of a product based on packaging color saturation.
Meng and Chan [31]	questionnaire	crackers	USA	A positive influence of a green nutrition label and a negative influence of a red nutrition label compared to a black nutrition label on the healthiness perception of a product was observed for men but not for women. Text-based health information on the nutrition label influenced health perceptions for both genders.
Nyilasy et al. [29]	questionnaire	cereals	USA	Consumers perceived healthy cereals with red and green nutrition labels as less healthy than those with uncolored nutrition labels, regardless of which nutrient values were colored green and red. For unhealthy foods, there was no effect of colored versus uncolored nutrition labels on consumers’ perceptions of healthiness.
Pettigrew et al. [26]	choice task and questionnaire	cereals	Australia, China, India, New Zealand, UK, USA	In Australia, China, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, consumers understood traffic-light-colored nutrition labels (green = healthy, orange = moderately healthy, red = unhealthy) better than uncolored labels. Only in Canada did participants understand the health ratings better with monochrome than with colored labels. Colored nutrient summary labels were the most understandable compared to monochrome labels with nutrient-specific information.
Pettigrew et al. [28]	choice task and questionnaire	cereals	Australia	Colored nutrition labels were better understood than black and white nutrition labels. The most effective labels included only the color coding and abbreviated star rating, not the detailed nutrient icons.
Plasek [14]	questionnaire	functional smoothie	Hungary	Products with white-blue packaging were four times more likely to be perceived as healthy, and products with white-green packaging were twice as likely to be perceived as healthy as products with white-red packaging. Packaging color had the greatest impact on consumers’ health perceptions compared to product claims related to ingredients, organic origin, health claims, shape, and country of origin.
Sant’anna et al. [17]	focus groups and choice experiment	sodium reduced cracker	Brazil	When consumers were asked to choose a reduced-sodium product, blue versus red packaging combined with the phrase indicating the percentage of sodium reduction increased the likelihood that a reduced-sodium product would be chosen.
Schnurr [24]	questionnaire	nuts and muesli	USA and Europe	A cute, colorful packaging design compared to a less colorful, neutral packaging design leads to a lower perception of healthiness for virtue products that are consumed primarily to satisfy physical needs. This effect was not observed for vice products, which are consumed for their hedonic value. A colorful, cute packaging design creates images of fun in consumers’ minds that they imagine they would experience while consuming the product.
Schuldt [27]	questionnaire	chocolate candy bar	USA	Consumers perceived a candy bar with a green calorie label as healthier than a candy bar with a red calorie label, even though the calorie content presented was the same. When comparing a green to a white calorie label, only consumers who focused on healthy eating perceived the candy bar with the green label as healthier.
Sucapane et al. [19]	questionnaire	plant-based meat alternative products	Canada and USA	A “meat alternative” product descriptor combined with a mismatching green versus matching red packaging color led to lower perceptions of eco-friendliness and trial likelihood. A “plant-based” product descriptor combined with matching green versus mismatching red packaging had a negative effect on predicted satiety. No effect of packaging color on health perceptions was observed.
Tijssen et al. [23]	Implicit Association Test and questionnaire	low-sugar dairy drink and low-fat sausage	Netherlands	The hue, brightness, and saturation of a product’s packaging color influence consumers’ perceptions of its healthiness. Consumers implicitly and explicitly perceive products with cooler colors (e.g., blue), higher brightness, and lower color saturation packaging as healthier but less attractive than products with warmer colors, lower brightness, and higher color saturation.
Vasiljevic et al. [30]	questionnaire	chocolate and cereal bar	UK	Consumers perceived a white label with a smiling emoticon as healthier than a red or green label with a smiling emoticon. The influence of the colored label on consumers’ perception of health was only observed in combination with a smiling emoticon, not with a frowning emoticon or no emoticon.
Vila-López and Küster-Boluda [32]	questionnaire	juice with milk and fruit and candy bar	Spain	Product packaging with blue versus red or black nutrition claims was perceived as healthier. Visual cues (font color) had a stronger influence on consumers’ attitudes towards the product than informative cues (nutrition claim). No differences were found between hedonic and functional products.
Wąsowicz et al. [20]	focus group and questionnaire	pizza, yoghurt	Poland	Certain colors have greater potential to be associated with product healthiness, but this varies across product categories. Consumers perceived blue and green, as well as red and yellow, as healthy, depending on the product category. For example, the color red was perceived as healthy in the pizza category because it indicates the presence of fruits and vegetables, but unhealthy in the yogurt category because red is associated with artificial colors.