Intermarche and Taste of Colours

French supermarket Intermarche has a new ad campaign called the Taste of Colours, highlighting how artificial colouring messes with our minds. Via Adweek:

French law forbids marketers to explicitly say that additives might be harmful, so Paris-based agency Romance devised the taste test to make its point in a subtle, compelling way that would meet the nation’s broadcast standards.

Romance designed the test with food science expert Muriel Jacquot, but the team still wasn’t sure how it would all play out.

“For the experience to go well, it was important our subjects not know its purpose, so we just told them it was a simple consumer test for Intermarché,” says agency senior copywriter Philippe Pinel. “To be honest, the very first subject got it right when he tasted the first yogurt, so we held our breath. But after that, everything went bad—just as intended.”

Toward the end of the ad, Intermarché notes that if food coloring can so completely fool our brains, it’s probably best avoided, along with other additives.

“What we didn’t expect was that some of our subjects would be smarter than us,” Pinel recalls. “After realizing we were tricking them with colors, a group of subjects decided to continue the experience with their eyes shut. Well done, girls!”

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