Canvas8 reports are available to Canvas8 subscribers. What follows is an adaptation of the research; the full report can be accessed via the View Report link.
Abstract
A summer morning at Erewhon in Beverly Hills, and the line is for a $22 rainbow smoothie: blue spirulina, chlorophyll, mango and matcha cream. Two decades ago, some of the same customers stood under the fluorescent lights of a 7-Eleven, mixing sour apple and extreme cherry at the slushie machine. The two drinks look almost the same. One promised a brain freeze, the other promises wellness. Bright color once meant junk food, then a worry about what synthetic dyes do to the body. Shoppers said they wanted natural ingredients and kept reaching for the brightest products on the shelf, and color from spirulina or ube now lets brands give them both.
The research draws on interviews with Jos de Groot, CEO of Vegan Junk Food Bar; Sonia Wong, founder of Little Ones, Shanghai's first organic baby food brand; and Andrea Basunti, semiotics expert and founder of London cultural insight agency Meaning Agency.
Amid greater demand for healthier, more sustainable foods, the use of vibrant natural colourants has exploded. But having grown up in the era of e-numbers and fluoro junk food, how do consumers view this kaleidoscopic shift? And how can brands align with shifting consumer preferences?
The findings
In studies, a red drink was perceived as sweeter than a green one with the same sugar content, and food coloring can raise perceived sweetness by up to 10%. Color changes how food tastes. Novelty has its own pull: 43% of consumers worldwide prefer food and drinks in new and unusual colors, and 66% of them find those colors stimulating.
The early 2000s brought purple ketchup and Pepsi Blue, and Heinz's EZ Squirt line later ended up in the Museum of Failure. Then came the health questions. The FDA banned the dye Red No. 3 from cosmetics in 1990 over cancer concerns, and research has linked synthetic dyes to behavioral problems in children. Artificial color lost people's trust.
76% of consumers say they prefer food without artificial colors, and the share checking ingredient labels rose from 36% to 43% between 2020 and 2022. Brands responded with earthy packaging, even Cheetos, which launched a "Simply" line in beige packs with grain fields on them. Yet Mars, General Mills and Kellogg all missed their own deadlines for removing artificial colors. The natural versions didn't perform, and shoppers kept choosing the brighter ones.
The momentum now sits with saturated color from natural sources. "Vibrant, natural colours are not just visually appealing but are also celebrated as indicators of purity and health," says Wong. Vegan Junk Food Bar built its brand on vividly colored burgers and fries made with natural colorings. "[It] supported the breakthrough of vegan food getting rid of their old and 'boring' image," says de Groot. Ube, the deep purple yam, was named the top trending flavor for 2024, and the natural food color market is forecast to grow 8.3% a year through 2030. "What was once dismissed as unnatural or synthetic is now embraced as a celebration of nature's true vibrancy," says Basunti.
What this means for brands
- Color is a claim, so back it up: shoppers read color as information. If a product is bright, tell them where the color comes from, whether that's spirulina, beet or ube.
- Don't go beige to look honest: Simply Cheetos went beige, and shoppers kept choosing brighter products anyway. Color from real ingredients lets a brand keep the brightness and stand behind it.
- Design for the early adopter: the shoppers who read labels first also want food that looks remarkable, and de Groot credits Vegan Junk Food Bar's colorful breads and sauces with drawing a young crowd that uses social media to show what it eats.
- Who is the color for? Synthetic dyes have been linked to behavioral problems in children, so brands selling to families should say plainly what colors a product and where it comes from.
Canvas8 is a behavioural insights agency whose reports are used by brands and agencies worldwide. This page highlights key findings from the report; the full version is available to Canvas8 members.
Alice Sweitzer
