The Color of Marketing – A Christmas Story

December 6, 2010 | Comments (0) | Share

Color psychology is well entrenched in marketing strategy and advertising campaigns. Most people are aware that we use color to project a brand image, evoke a certain emotion and encourage some kind of response or action.

Take IBM – “Big Blue”. According to research, blue is the color of stability, dependability, thoughtfulness and cleanliness. Blue makes us feel relaxed and reduces stress. Studies have shown that looking at the color blue can actually lower blood pressure and pulse rate. It’s the perfect choice for a company selling computers – a product that consumers expect to be dependable and worry-free. Trust me, its no accident that companies like Ford, AT&T, Microsoft and Dell also chose blue to represent their brands.

I’ll also wager a bet that McDonald’s didn’t choose red and yellow for its corporate brand because they were Ray Kroc’s favorite colors. Research shows that red increases appetite, and encourages diners to eat lots, eat quickly and leave – which is precisely what fast food restaurants want you to do.

There is one example of color-based marketing that throws me. Why is Nexium the “purple pill” and Viagra the “blue pill” when it should be the other way around? Seems to me that people with acid reflux would react well to the calming effects of blue, while those who need Viagra might be better served through an emasculating condition if dosed with the feelings of wealth, royalty and dignity that purple produces.

So why am I talking about color psychology, a practice that is already accepted as gospel by every marketing executive in America?

As I drove to work this morning through a town that looks as if Santa threw up all over it, I started wondering… Who chose red and green as the official colors of Christmas? Was it the Church, which says that red represents the blood shed by Christ, and that green is symbolic of everlasting life? If this is the case, then shouldn’t red and green be attached to Easter instead of Christmas, since Easter is the day that Jesus is believed to have actually shed blood and insured eternal life?

This thought led me to wonder if maybe the origin of the Christmas color scheme was a sinister, retail conspiracy. Perhaps there was a Secret Society of Evil Marketers (SSEM) that chose red and green as a ploy to turn a High Holiday into the largest annually recurring retail extravaganza on earth. (I’m picturing Captain Hook and Cruella De Vil conspiring in a dark, smoky boardroom with the heads of marketing from The Gap and ToysRUs.) Think about it - red is the color of excitement and impulsiveness, and is consistently used by advertisers as an “action button” to entice unwitting shoppers to buy lots and buy now. Green is the color of money. (And after all, any Creative Director worth his salt would tell you that eggs died red and green wouldn’t work nearly as well as pastels.)

I was so disturbed by the thought of the SSEM controlling Christmas that I raced to my computer, hoping that Wikipedia would dispel my evil Christmas conspiracy theory. I was relieved to find that there is actually an historical basis for the association between Christmastime and red and green.

The story is that in the 14^th Century in medieval Europe, churches celebrated something called Adam and Eve Day on December 24^th by putting on a Paradise Play. The Paradise Play was an adaptation of the Biblical story of the Fall of Adam and Eve, and for obvious reasons, required the use of an apple tree as the main prop. Since apple trees were hard to come by in the dead of winter in Europe, the churches decided that a pine tree with apples tied to its branches would do the trick. As the story goes, the tradition grew and eventually the Paradise Tree evolved into the decorated Christmas tree, its green branches and red apples forming the mark of our modern day Christmas.

These are the facts as written by history, but I’m still not convinced that the Secret Society of Evil Marketers isn’t behind it all. And, for the record, I still believe in Santa Claus.

That’s what we mean by Never Stop Communicating - but never try to manipulate.