Color and abundance: Influencing children's food choices

Abstract

Packaging color and product availability are factors influencing consumer preferences. However, their impact on children’s choices is scarce. The current research examines whether the size of the set of items and the packaging color might shape children's choices. In three experiments (N = 887), we investigated the effect of these two variables on children's choices of food items in a laboratory setting. The results showed that food items provided in larger piles of identical products were preferred to those provided in smaller piles of identical products, even though children could only choose one item to take away, showing evidence of an “abundance bias”. In addition, food products packaged in red were preferred to those packaged in green. A moderation effect was also observed whereby children preferred red-packaged items more when offered within a larger group of identical items (abundance) and less when offered within a smaller group of identical items. The findings provide insight into the psychology of color and abundance as choice attractors in children's consumer preferences for food products.