Hi everyone! I was not expecting to see a study like this, but it was so interesting! I bet that a lot of consumers never even think about the subtle things that may influence their choices, a lot are probably unware of it. It was so interesting to learn that the color red has an evolutionary advantage for influence. It makes me think of red velvet cake, since it is exactly the same as chocolate cake but with red food coloring. It was fascinating to examine how color influences many aspects of daily life and our society. It makes total sense that green is associated with good and healthy and red is associated with unhealthy and bad, because our culture is full of these kinds of norms with color, such as with traffic lights and the red light green light game we play as kids. I’m curious how many restaurants, companies, and corporations are aware of these kinds of statistics. I bet that big corporations and chains are well aware of the influence of color on consumers and play to this to help sell their product. I think many “mom and pop” or local restaurants may not know about how color can influence consumer choices, including on a menu. It would be interesting to see how the traffic light framework would look in a study on consumer products, such as clothing, beauty products, and marketing for products to examine if the results are similar. It’s not entirely surprising that since the study was conducted online it had different results from the in-person studies conducted on this topic, because eating out is a whole experience and food in real time engages all of our senses, whereas a picture on a screen/simulation can only do so much. You guys did a great job of presenting all your information and the slides were super engaging with some great visuals! Great job!

You all did an amazing experiment. Even though there were not any significant results, I thought it was set up very well and there is a lot of information that can be attained from this study. I think that if this same study was done in person, the results would have been a lot different, like you mentioned in the video. I think this topic is a really interesting one and with more research and in person experimentation, a lot of good information can come from it. I really like how you broke down the two ways that traffic light theory can be interpreted and justified why you chose the approach you did. It was really interesting to hear both sides of the theory. Overall, I though you all did a really great job with this assignment! Thank you for your hard work!

This study is an interesting one and you all did a good job of explaining your methodology and using good pictures. Too bad you all didn’t get significant results! The info you presented on the various influences of red – whether that color is an inhibitor or a attractant with food – is worth pursuing I think. I’m not sure if I missed it in your presentation, but the color green often indicates that food is not ready to eat – it’s not ripe or there’s something wrong with it. Did you run across any previous research on that idea, and do your think that might have influenced your results? Another perspective you could have looked at, if you had enough participants, is age differences. Do different aged people respond to healthy vs. unhealthy foods in different ways, and to different colored menus in different ways?

This research is very intriguing to me! I was also wondering if it differed with age and what option was chosen as Dr. Steckler was. These menus also are from American restaurants, in other countries I have seen plainer menus and I am wondering if the traffic light effect would play into their choice given that primarily the menus are of a simpler design.

I loved this presentation! Starting out with asking us which food we would choose and continuing to use questions throughout the powerpoint was great for interaction. I really like how you explained how you conducted the experiment with each different type of menu and explained why you chose these different types. I had heard that red was a color that attracted, but I had not heard it being inhibitory. It makes sense as to why it would be inhibitory, as there are many things socially that are perceived as bad that are red. It would be interesting to see if it is different cross-culturally whether red is seen as an inhibitor or an attractor. It was a really great presentation, and although not significant in this case, it still makes you wonder how much of your food choice is based on what you want versus external stimuli.

Hey Everyone! I thought that your topic/research that you focused on was unique and creative! You guys hooked me in the beginning and gave us intriguing facts! I have never thought about what can direct you to make a selection of food from the menu. I had not known beforehand that red increases arousal for food images; it makes sense that McDonalds uses a majority of red with advertising and happy meals. I had not known about the traffic light effect either before this and have learned a decent amount throughout your presentation. On another note, I loved the situation that you included in your presentation to keep the audience engaged! Your results section was very intriguing and eye opening in a way. I will definitely be thinking of this study every time I go out to eat now! Thank you guys for sharing!

Your presentation made me very hungry! I think this was a really interesting study and there was a lot going on! Did your menu include price information? Could that have influenced preferences? Maybe students were more price conscious than health conscious. Also, since students knew they were not actually eating the food they picked they may have wanted to pick something that sounded more delicious rather than something that sounded healthy! Overall, I loved how clearly you presented everything and I think the idea of red either being attractive or inhibiting is really interesting!

Wow, this was a very intricate and well-presented study! I love how interactive the presentation was. It was very interesting, I never would have thought how the colors in a menu could influence what you order. The idea of red being attractive or inhibiting was really fascinating, I could see it being both in different contexts, as you all mentioned. I personally found myself gravitating toward the food presented in green (which is very in line with your hypothesis!). I actually think that your findings were more interesting because they were not significant because you brought up the fact that more people are ordering online. I also think that maybe the type of cuisine could have played a role, perhaps people focus more on the cuisine of the food rather than the healthiness. Overall, this was a very unexpected and interesting study! Great job!

Hi everyone! This was a wonderful presentation that did make me hungry! I think this topic is really interesting because in my high school art classes, I was told that the best colors to choose to make people hungry are yellow and red and that is why we see so many fast food logos with shades or red and yellow on them (McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King, ect.). I had never heard of the traffic light theory or internal/external eaters. I also found it very interesting that the research was not significant, but could still contribute to online ordering. Overall, I think you guys had a great presentation!

This was a really interesting topic and it’s something I never really give much thought to, like food and color cues. I had no idea that 82% of adults in the U.S. eat out every week, that’s a huge percentage! I had no idea menu designs could influence what catches our eye. The color red has such a big impact on our desire to eat, I didn’t know that! Outside of food, red means stop or avoid. The Traffic Light Effect is applied in marketing and food menus. I think it’s amazing how your study included participants that were between 17-81 years old. This study was really interesting and I loved your presentation and topic! Great job!

I thought you all did a fantastic job on your presentation! The idea of different factors in menu design impacting food choices is really interesting. It seems like you put together a thoughtful design for your experiment. Your information about color and food perception was particularly interesting. I definitely wondered about the difference between pictures of red foods (meat, ripe berries, tomatoes, etc.), and labels or the menu itself being red. I’d be curious to learn if they produce different effects. It was surprising that not even pictures had a significant impact on food choice, particularly for the external eaters. I was also pretty shocked to see that looking at pictures of food could increase insulin levels! Well done, thank you so much for sharing!

How interesting, this was really well-done research! I’ve heard of how red logos and foods increase the appetite by increasing your metabolism before and always thought it to be true, but learning about how red might actually be an avoidance factor was really fascinating and made a lot of sense! It is fascinating how many biological processes happen in our body just by looking at a single picture of food. Menu design is something I’ve never thought of before, I wonder what effect a blue menu would have since blue rarely occurs in nature or natural foods. Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed watching.

Your presentation was well done! I have had some previous knowledge of the relation between color and emotions. It is hard to point out what we ourselves don’t regularly notice. I think that when restaurants choose the pictures for their meals they need to account for the average or more healthy portion. Rather than what looks more appealing and will fill you up way more than needed. I have seen fewer greens be used in menus over the years of having this concept in mind. Also blue is used more for places that are open later because of how bright it shines in signs. I definitely think that an in-person study would help view the body language of those who choose certain items due to the colors and portion sizes.

I was trying to remember the color and layout of menus from different restaurants I’ve been to but couldn’t remember any, probably because I haven’t eaten in any restaurants in over a year. But this is an interesting idea and I think it’s worth researching more even though the results weren’t significant. I loved the color theory aspect of it as well. I know that for social media, red is generally a good color to use for logos, as it represents creativity and energy (Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest). It was interesting to learn that red can also be seen as inhibitory in some cases. Overall really great job!

Hi everyone! I want to start off by saying how interesting of a topic I think this is, and I was so excited to see a group conducting a research project on this. Although this is a topic I already knew some information on, I learned a lot from your presentation. I loved the way you started your presentation by making us the viewers feel involved by asking us to chose which picture looks most appealing. Super good job on this presentation!

Hi everyone! Awesome job on your presentation! It’s fascinating to learn more about how color cues can impact our choices. I was so invested in your study that it made me think about how I will order the next time I go out. I enjoyed how intricate your research was and the methods that you took to tackle on this topic. It does open a door to more research being conducted in person due to everything being harder online, but great job to you guys!

Great job! I thought this study was very interesting and something that I will continue to think about when I go out to eat! When you first talked about the color red indicating attractiveness and delicious foods like strawberries, I also thought about raw meat. I was wondering if you found research that complicated this idea of red being attractive foods, since the red in raw meat (like beef or chicken) may indicate that the food is not ready to eat? Additionally, do you think any variables could have possibly mediated the relationship between color of the menu items and calories ordered? Overall, an interesting and thoughtful presentation!

The name and subject matter alone caught my attention. I imagine this knowledge is going to be in my head for a while especially with restaurants opening up. I also plan to use some of this new terminology in conversations with family and friends. Thank you for sharing!

This was a really interesting presentation! I love how you presented both the biological and cultural aspects of food and color choices. I felt like your results could go either way! Your experimental setup was very thorough too and you all really examined every variable available. I would love to see future research since I’m bummed you didn’t get conclusive results. Overall this was great and super informative!

What was the most interesting part of your findings?