Creative Roots Marketing & Design - Color Psychology

Color Psychology

Color psychology is used by designers in advertising to persuade the public and compel them to purchase certain products and merchandise. A specific example is the color green being used by food stores or markets to represent healthy and natural, alluding to their fresh produce or healthy food options.

Cigarette companies have picked up on this color method and along with gender appropriation have used it to sell their products. Companies such as Marlboro use the color red with ridged masculine design to show power along with images of the western cowboy to attract men to their product. Virginia Slims were specifically designed to attract female smokers with their minimalistic design and feminine sophisticated qualities. This cigarette embodied the ideal appearance of a woman; long, tall, and slim. The color green is currently used on these cigarette cartons in order to display a ironic theme; healthy and natural.

With all this media manipulation, is it possible to use color psychology to persuade the public to not purchase a product? According to a survey conducted by a group of researchers from Australia, Pantone 448C or Opaque couché has been labeled as "ugliest color in the world." This color has been used on all the packaging design of cigarette cartons in Australia. The overall idea was to discourage smoking by making the outside of the package match the inside of a smoker's lungs. Due to the lack of appealing visual appearance, cigarette consumption has dropped 0.55

For more information check out this article from Gradient "Brace yourself. Researchers have found the world’s ugliest color."

"One can speak poetry just by arranging colors well."

Vincent Van Gogh