FOOD/HEALTH/ MIGRATION
Food (Package) Coloring
It is well known that food companies, particularly ones that produce processed and unhealthy foods, invest inordinate sums of money into their marketing and advertising to draw customers to their products. This makes perfect sense considering that studies show 76% of all food purchasing decisions in 2012 were made on the spot, a 6% increase from 1995 (Zaki). According to Dana Small, a neuroscientist at the Yale School of Medicine, food identification is done nearly exclusively by visual and olfactory observation (Zaki). This means that people do not have to actually taste food to identify or desire it, these remote actions are induced by the sight and smell of a particular food.
(Re)a(d)y to Eat
Studies have also shown trends in the success of marketing different colors to different communities. For example, a study showed that African Americans and people of Hispanic heritage were more drawn to saturated shades of red, yellow and brown (Paul). This could be attributed to cultural color preferences, which derive from the intense lighting conditions of Africa and Latin America (Paul). This is contrasted with the preferences of white individuals, which tend to lean more towards softer hues and cooler colors like blue and green, which can also be attributed to the climate of regions where white people originate (the Northern Hemisphere). A simple look at logos for fast food corporations such as Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Domino’s and KFC displays bright red, yellow and black as the dominant colors used for their advertising.
Deserts in the North
It is no secret that communities like that of the Bronx suffer from living in a “food desert,” which is a geographical area that lacks vendors of fresh and nutritious food. A study found that predominantly minority communities are four times less likely to have sufficient access to supermarkets that offer fresh produce than predominantly white communities (Morland, Wing, Diez and Poole). These communities tended to be urban and contained a larger number of small food vendors, including fast food restaurants and bodegas (Morland, Wing, Diez and Poole).
In combination with the color preferences of minority communities cited, fast food vendors have nearly all elected to utilize the colors bright red and bright yellow in their logos and in their advertising (Wansink). These colors can also be seen dominantly in logos and packaging for popular processed snack foods, such as Lays (red and yellow), Doritos (red, orange, yellow and black), Nestle (red and blue), Cheetos (orange, yellow and black).
The data that I gathered during this project is different from what a corporate marketing research study would pursue because I ultimately did not decide to ask my participants why they chose a particular color to connote to processed snack foods. Questions within this vein provide information to researchers about the mental processes associated with food choice, which can be used to further market unhealthy foods to vulnerable communities. In asking my participants just which color they associate with processed snack foods, I gathered information on how successful existing marketing has been.
The data that I gathered during this project is different from what a corporate marketing research study would pursue because I ultimately did not decide to ask my participants why they chose a particular color to connote to processed snack foods. Questions within this vein provide information to researchers about the mental processes associated with food choice, which can be used to further market unhealthy foods to vulnerable communities. In asking my participants just which color they associate with processed snack foods, I gathered information on how successful existing marketing has been.