The Mystery of the Red Chip
Team Members: Josh Sullivan, Danielle Sigman, Mike Milani, Elijah Pierson, Matty Mustari, Allie Ramirez
In our marketing research class taught by Dr. Charlton, we are put into groups to replicate an experiment. The experiment is the “Red Potato Chip” experiment originally conducted by Brian Wansink. Researcher Brian Wansink conducted the experiment in hopes that having a red potato chip amongst regular-colored chips would halt the consumer from overeating past the recommended caloric intake. Brian Wansink noted that: “the experiment reduced caloric intake among participants by about 250 calories.”
Within Brian Wansink’s publication of the experiment there were many questionable aspects of data such as, the weight listed for the potato chips and the upkeep of the chips shape. Brian Wansink has since resigned from his job at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has been under fire for “scientific misconduct.” This leaves the science community wondering if this experiment ever happened or if it was a big hoax. The paper Wansink contributed to remains published and has not been retracted. In light of this, other researchers such as Richard Morey have tried to re-create the red chip experiment to their best abilities but have come up short.
In our marketing research class, we were given supplies (chips & dye) to recreate this experiment and prove that this was either a hoax or a legit experiment that can be achieved. Here are our findings.
Trial 1
In our first team member’s trial we were able to come to a few conclusions. No 100% successful red chips came from this experiment, however, we were able to get close. What this team member found was that it was possible to get the chip to hold the dye, but struggled with the chip maintaining its size and shape. They found the most effective way to replicate it was a low temperature oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, with the chips being submerged prior to in a 16oz. bowl of salt water with 75 drops of red food coloring. The least effective way throughout their trial was broiling the chips in the oven with a lower amount of food coloring such as 20–50 drops in the salt water solution. One of the other big issues and why we cant consider this a complete success is that the died chips were layed on top of other chips to help retain their shape. This worked however, resulted in the two chips being essentially welded together. The chips were not able to be separated without breaking.
Trial 2
The second trial done by our team members resulted in a more successful replication of the red chip in everyone’s opinion than Trial 1 did. Trial 2 was done in 5 batches. Each batch spent between 10–30 seconds submerged in the dye, 4–5 minutes cooked in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven, and varying cooling times of 3–5 minutes. Throughout this trial the team member was able to find that 10 seconds was the best amount of time to submerge the chip. This resulted in the most durable dyed chip. They also found that 4 minutes resulted in the most normal looking chip, as the chips approached 5 minutes they began to burn and significantly darken around the edges. Aluminum foil was wrapped lightly around the chips to help them retain their shape as much as possible. In conclusion, this team member was successful in recreating the famous red potato chip by cooking them at 400 degrees for 4 minutes, while submerging them in the dye for only 10 seconds. They also found the aluminum foil to be successful in helping them retain their shape. Photos of their results can be found below.
Final Trial
For our final trial we decided to see if we could get a higher success rate by use of an air fryer as the cooking method. This trial was done by adding 2 tbsp. red food coloring into 8 oz. of water, then adding 2 tbsp. of salt. Salt was added to attempt to maintain flavor, because in this trial flavor was tested compared to a normal chip. Each chip was submerged in the dye solution for 3 seconds and then gently shaken to get rid of any excess liquid. Chips were then placed into the air fryer with no structural support at 350 degrees and cooked for 1.5 minutes, then left to cool for 5 minutes. This trial also resulted in successful red chips, however, not necessarily at a higher success rate, multiple chips were cracked or damaged while being cooked in the air fryer. Following the cooling time this team member taste tested the chips to see if they maintained their same flavor. The result was a red potato chip that tasted nothing close to its un-dyed counterpart. This team member attempted this trial again, however, added granulated salt before putting them in the air fryer to attempt to get the taste closer to normal. This trial ended in all chips breaking throughout their cooking process and the team member explained that the flavor still was not close.
Conclusion
Our team was successful in their goal of getting the chip to hold its shape, size, and the dye. However, not successful in getting the flavor back to normal. After doing this trial we believe that Brian’s experiment is only partially valid. Getting the chip to appear red is definitely possible. Getting the flavor correct is a whole different story. Making the dying and cooking process easily repeatable with a high success rate is also no easy task. Not a single batch from any trial had every chip as a success. This results in a not so feasible experiment to reproduce on a large scale, to actually validate Brian’s theory. With flavor also being hard to achieve it can be hard to determine whether or not it was the color of the chip or the flavor of the chip that resulted in a lower caloric intake.
MKT 232. Professor Charlton. Illinois State University. 2/25/21
