The influence of visual content and heuristic cues, such as color composition on Instagram, on product evaluation remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the influence of product-background color combinations (similar vs. contrastive) on product evaluation. Two empirical analyses were conducted, and the findings revealed that when the color is similar between product and background, it can significantly influence product evaluation in both brand layout and post situations on Instagram. The product type (functional vs. sensory-social) was found to moderate the relationship between product-background color and product evaluation. This study contributes to the existing literature on color theory and visual marketing research, providing valuable practical implications and novel insights for leveraging color cues when presenting products on brand Instagram accounts.