Psychology Commons^™

The Effect Of Wrapper Color On Candy Flavor Expectations And Perceptions, Debra Zellner, Nancy Greene, Monica Jimenez, Arturo Calderon, Yaritza Diaz, Mimi Sheraton

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The color of a product's metallic paper wrapper influences the expectations concerning the flavor of the product. These color-induced expectations are consistent with flavors associated with those colors (e.g., cherry-red) but vary somewhat with the product to be wrapped (e.g., a candy or beverage). Beverages wrapped in green were expected to have a lemon/lime flavor while candies wrapped in the same color were expected to have a mint flavor. Although flavor expectations were affected by the wrapper color there was no effect of the color of the wrapper on the identification of the flavor of a plain white spun sugar …