Does color effect people's choice in food? Example: M&M's?

Question

I'm doing a science project to see if the color of an M&M effects which color is chosen the most to eat by people.

Answer 1

Well, some people are stranger than others, M&Ms notwithstanding. You may (or not) remember the time that you wont eat your greens because, well, it's green. Color psychology is developed at a very young age, and ultimately determines your preferences in life. For example, M&Ms. Some celebrities prefer certain colored M&Ms to be ready in their respective hotel rooms. The simplest way to conduct an experimentis to do a non-scientific survey, but I guess it wont help your grades as much. This cals for a graph table, LOTS of participants and equal amount of M&Ms. Put them in different beakers, group them in colors, and see which ones finish faster than the other. This will give you a rough idea as what color is preferred by the general populace.

A harder method is to do an all-bases covered experiment: the sight, smell and touch test. The M&Ms smell the same, so strike that. They appear the same, out that one go. So, you can try dividing the aforementioned beakers into two groups: all the colors, already divided, and divide them once more. The first thing is to get a lot of participants, and blindfold them when they choose an M&M. Then move to the other batch of beakers, unblindfolded, and jot down the results. Very exhausting, but its the easiest without doing a brain scan on your friends :-)....

p.s. you can also throw in a discussion about color discrimination and the same psychology that is used by the human brain in picking out the M&Ms. The info on celebs would help in the explanation too. Break a leg!

Answer 2

Not with M&M's because they all taste the same, but for years i always preferred the orange smarties despite everyone else telling me I imagined that they did taste different from the others. Then I researched and discovered orange smarties really do contain orange oil and that I hadn't imagined it. I suppose since then I do have a preference for orange sweets, only M&M's don't do that colour

Answer 3

Yeah - I couldn't eat the green tomato ketchup they brought out as a special, even though it tasted the same - it should be red.... avoid eating Yellow M&M's as it just doesn't seem right somehow...

Answer 4

Affects, OK? M & M's are expected to be different colors--why don't you use food coloring to, for example, make milk lime green and mashed potatoes purple--and see if it changes their desirability?

Answer 5

Yes..
Red typically stimulates the appetite. This is why a lot of restaurants use red when decorating.

Answer 6

Does't affect me at all; I just grab a handful and snack away.