Researchers from BYU and the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology may have figured out a secret to get people to buy more fresh produce: dress veggies up in black.
A new study by industrial design professor Bryan Howell and Dutch colleague Hendrick Schifferstein looks at how the backgrounds of grocery store displays impact the attractiveness of vegetables. After testing an array of colors and neutral shades, they found the best bet is to go back in black.
“If the goal is to boost sales of fresh produce in retail stores, it makes sense that vendors present them in an attractive and appetizing manner,” Howell said. “In the design world, black has always been the cool color, but I didn’t know it would carry over into the vegetable world.”
For the study, 46 participants assessed five vegetables on various shades of backgrounds between black and white. The study participants gave attractiveness and perceived expensiveness ratings for each veggie — mushroom, bell pepper, carrot, tomato, eggplant — against each background.
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Image: Illustration of vegetables with a black background. (Credit: BYU Photo)