One of the assumptions that consumers might bring to eating brightly-colored pre-packaged foods is that the different hues denote different flavors. This can be true of fruit-flavored candies, juices, and especially the super-sugary cereals that have only increased their grasp on the market in recent years.
However, TIME (somewhat cheekily) recently pointed out that cereal eaters may be living a lie when it comes to the color/flavor connection, at least in the case of Froot Loops. The popular Toucan Sam-touted breakfast food has been a grocery shelf staple for decades, but the idea that these different colors link up to specific fruits is a bit of a misconception.
To be fair, this information has been out for a while: it’s only really been offered up as “news” because Reddit users recently stumbled upon a pre-Wikipedia article from The Straight Dope which asserts that, despite their many colors, all of the different “loops” in this cereal are actually the same flavor, courtesy of artificial ingredients.
And in the company’s credit, it seems to have been very careful about how it markets this product. Notice how one commercial doesn’t allege that the cereal contains anything like fruit but is instead “deliciously colorful.” Does your company know how to make labels that similarly walk that fine line?
Labels for natural foods, on the other hand, also need to worry about the specific terminology that they are using to advertise. By being as specific as possible without losing the customer’s interest, your product label can avoid the accusation that it is being deceptive about its product.