How Color Affects The Way We Buy

by Matt Cook

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Put on your psychology hats, ladles and jellyspoons. Have you ever considered why certain companies choose the colors they do for their products or even their brand? Well it turns out that we humans are a highly suggestible bunch and color plays a huge role in that.

That’s why companies often spend truckloads of green in order to determine the best colors and even shades of colors for advertisements, calls to action and products themselves.

The Psychology of Color

So what does it all mean? Why do certain colors outperform others? Why is Coke red and Pepsi blue? Why is Land Rover green?

And why can’t the Browns make the playoffs?

Red

Emotionally, red is the most powerful color in the spectrum. It signifies passion, intensity, love and even stimulates your appetite. That’s why you see a lot of restaurants and food packaging using red ie: McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Ritz Crackers, Kellogg’s, etc. Red also builds importance and urgency by increasing your heart rate, so that makes it a great choice for advertising sales and petitioning to impulsive shoppers.

Blue

Blue is a powerful color that symbolizes loyalty and trust. It creates security. Blue is a favourite color amongst many corporate brands like Ford, Walmart, Facebook, Amex, etc. In many ways it is the opposite of red in that it curbs appetite, induces calmness and even increases productivity. Blue is also a color preferred by men.

Green

Besides the obvious choices of nature, food, money and growth, green also has significant health benefits. It can be used for relaxation and to relieve depression. Muted greens are a popular choice for hospital rooms. People who work in green environments have even been know to get fewer stomach aches.

Purple

Purple is usually a sign of royalty and wealth. That’s why in those old high school productions of Shakespeare, all the kings and queens wear purple robes. It’s also why Crown Royal comes in a purple bag.

Which you'll need to sit through a production of King Lear.

Like blue, purple is soothing and is often used in beauty products. It’s also used to represent creativity and wisdom which you’ll see in brands like the Syfy channel and Hallmark.

Yellow

Yellow is an exciting color. It’s fast and represents enthusiasm and youthfulness. Overall, it is very stimulating to the brain and nervous system. It also represents clarity. You can see these characteristics in brands like Nikon, Best Buy and Sprint. Too much of it however can overpower the system and cause strain in the eyes. In fact, babies tend to cry more when placed in a yellow environment, so if you’re a new mother on the verge of postpartum depression, you might want to take a trip to Benjamin Moore.

Orange

If aggression, warmth, cheerfulness and friendliness are the qualities you look for in a brand, then that little grab bag of Care Bears is exactly what orange brings to the table. Orange is great for creating excitement and enthusiasm which you’ll notice in brands like Crush, Harley Davidson and Nickelodeon. Orange is also great for generating calls to action as it is very impulsive for buyers.

So there you have it. A little more reasoning behind the colors you interact with on a daily basis.