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Are You Selling the Right Colour? A

Crosscultural Review of Colour as a
Marketing Cue
Mubeen M. Aslam

School of Marketing , University of Wollongong , NSW, Australia

Published online: 17 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: Mubeen M. Aslam (2006) Are You Selling the Right Colour? A Crosscultural
Review of Colour as a Marketing Cue, Journal of Marketing Communications, 12:1, 15-30, DOI:
10.1080/13527260500247827
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Journal of Marketing Communications

Vol. 12, No. 1, 1530, March 2006

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Are You Selling the Right Colour? A

Cross-cultural Review of Colour as a
Marketing Cue
MUBEEN M. ASLAM
School of Marketing, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia

ABSTRACT Should a marketer adopt a pan-cultural or a culture-specific approach when using

colour in marketing? Colours exercise powerful effects and induce reactions based on both
instincts and associations. Colours alter the meanings of the objects or situations with which they
are associated and colour preferences can predict consumers behaviour. This article reviews the
psychological and socio-cultural associations and meanings of colour(s) in a cross-cultural
marketing perspective and outlines their role as a marketing cue. Because cultural values,
marketing objectives and desired customer relationship levels influence the choice of colour in
corporate and marketing communications, it is argued that a cross-cultural perspective of colour
research and application is imperative for developing global marketing strategies.
KEY WORDS: Colour, associations, effects, communication, cross-cultural marketing

Introduction
Colour is an integral element of corporate and marketing communications. It
induces moods and emotions, influences consumers perceptions and behaviour and
helps companies position or differentiate from the competition. However, the
literature in the public domain has a largely Western focus and the notion of colour
universality is fraught with risk. A large section of the colour research on products,
packages and advertisements remains unpublished because of competitive concerns
(Bellizzi et al., 1983). Inappropriate choice of product or package colours may also
lead to strategic failure (Ricks, 1983). Although sketchy business anecdotes are
available, many of the questions related to colour remain unanswered. Assuming a
narrow Western perspective of colours as universal and applying it to alien markets
has often led to cultural faux pas and there is need for a systematic colour theory in
marketing.
Correspondence Address: Mubeen Aslam, Room 281, Commerce Research Centre, School of Marketing,
Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Fax: +61 2 4221 4289; Tel.:
+61 2 4221 5528. Email: mma872@uow.edu.au
1352-7266 Print/1466-4445 Online/06/01001516 # 2006 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13527260500247827

16

M. M. Aslam

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This article reviews the socio-cultural and psychological associations and

meanings of colour(s) in a cross-cultural marketing perspective and outlines their
role as an intrinsic or extrinsic cue to the product, package, brand or environment or
as a symbol of personality and self-image. Illustrations are cited where appropriate.
It is argued that a cross-cultural perspective of colour research and application is
imperative for developing effective global marketing strategies.
The article is divided into two parts. It begins with a brief historical overview of
colour symbolism and then goes on to examine the communication values of colour,
in particular dealing with two major questions.
Do colours have different meanings in different cultures?
Should a marketer adopt a pan-cultural or a culture-specific approach in using
colour in marketing?
The second part of the article examines the effects of colour in marketing and in
particular dealing with two major questions.
Can different colours alter the meanings of the objects or situations with which
they are associated?
Can colour preferences predict future purchase behaviour?
Finally, the article proposes a framework of colour research and application
through which management can review the effects of colour and respond to
consumer preferences.
Historical Overview
Traditional beliefs have influenced colour preferences since antiquity. In the early
fifth century BC, the Greeks referred to the antithesis between black and white, or
darkness and light, and introduced a scheme of primary colours (white, black and
red) and a range of mixes from red through yellow to green. Aristotle suggested that
the intermediate colours were a mixture of light and dark, and later Hippocrates put
forward the four-colour theory: white, black, red and yellow (Gage, 1993).
The medieval and Renaissance usage of colour denoted religious symbolism. It
related the four elements of nature with four colours: scarlet (later red) with fire,
white (later black) with earth, blue with air and purple (later white) with water.
Mystical interpretation was given to these colours, because blue denoted heaven,
scarlet denoted charity, purple denoted martyrdom and white denoted chastity and
purity. Because the colours of gold, crimson, scarlet and purple were extracted from
precious pigments in olden times, they indicated power, authority and opulence. In
Western Europe, imperial purple (and at times ultramarine) was the colour of the
robe worn by Madonna. Cardinals could only dress in purple robes with a red hat
until the mid-fifteenth century, when they were allowed to wear scarlet or crimson
red robes with a vermilion hat. In The Netherlands, the Virgin was clothed in scarlet.
The senators in Rome would also wear scarlet or crimson violet (Gage, 1993). Note

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Are You Selling the Right Colour?

17

that the social dress code of the Renaissance viewed black, purple and scarlet as
mourning colours and the modern distinction of purple and red was alien to those
times.
In the fifteenth century, colour was recognized as a perceptual function of light.
Newton (1730) was the first to establish a colour wheel and describe a prismatic
spectrum of seven colours linked in a circular arrangement. With some revision of
the number and area of the component hues, this circular arrangement has remained standard in the colour theory up to the present day, despite the other
colour order systems of Ostwald (1911) and Munsell (1905). However, it is also
argued that a colours tone or hue can be a deceptive predictor and that the variation
in brightness and saturation play a more important role in a colours perception and
association with behaviour (Crozier, 1996; Hupka et al., 1997). It is now held that
there are three primary colours (red, blue and green) and it is the interaction of
their three basic attributes (hue, intensity and saturation) that creates various
colours. Primary and secondary colours on the colour wheel (red, yellow, blue,
orange, green and purple) are considered as simple colours and all others (taupe,
mauve, sea green, maroon, pumpkin, etc.) are considered as sophisticated colours
(Moser, 2003).
But what is and where lies colour? In fact the physical world has no colours. There
are only light waves of different wavelengths. It is left to the retinal cones of
the normal human eye to distinguish among such bands of light and make this
world a rainbow for us. So, is colour created in the brain to act as a perceptual
tool for our visualcognitive and visualaffective functions or does it lie in the
external world? Is colour a primary or a secondary quality of matter? Galileo (1623)
suggested that colour represented secondary qualities of matter that were
perceiver dependent, dispositional, laid in the minds of the observers and were not
really a property of the object, initiating debate on the psychological effects of
colour and its relation with emotions. Cheskin (1957) called it a vivid,
affect-loaded and memorable stimulus, influencing both human behaviour
and human physiology (Madden et al., 2000). Kosslyn and Thompson (2003)
argued that visual imagery and perception arises from activity in the visual cortex as
well as other areas of the brain, although the long-term memory stores images that
are reconstructed in the visual cortex on exposure to a matching stimulus or object,
thereby implying that prior knowledge, social learning and associations
influence mental imagery. The various elements of colour perception are shown in
Fig. 1. The physical or biological effects of colour are beyond the scope of
this article and the discussion is limited to the psychological and sociocultural associations and meanings, particularly in a cross-cultural marketing
perspective.
Literature Review: Communication Values of Colour
There are two major schools of thought relating colour and human behaviour.
Colour reactions could be of innate or instinctual origin (Humphrey, 1976) or of
learned or associative origin (Langenbeck, 1913, cited in Hupka et al., 1997). The
first school argues that colour signals the brain to trigger an affective reaction
directly, whereas others suggest that colour preferences are learned over time as

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18

M. M. Aslam

Figure 1. Elements of colour perception

shared affective meanings or as result of past experiences or as conscious

associations in language, literature and myths (Osgood et al., 1957). Crozier
(1996) argued that the differences in colour associations are more of a difference
in latent philosophicalreligious attitudes than an innate difference in the perception
of colours. For instance, orange is a sacred colour for Hindus and Buddhist monks,
but it is not even considered a separate colour by some Zambians (Madden et al.,
2000). Similarly, in the beadwork of the Xhosa tribe of South Africa, yellow is
associated with new life and green with fertility and pregnant women wear yellow
and green beads (Grieve, 1991). To the colour sighted such cues are an important
part of social learning processes (Kaufman-Scarborough, 2001). Therefore, it is
posited that colour associations are more likely to be based on classical (Pavlov,
1927) or evaluative (Martin and Levey, 1978) conditioning and that instrumental
responses (see Skinner, 1953; Mowrer, 1960) are less likely to form durable colour
associations.
Cultures differ in their aesthetic expressions as colours represent different
meanings and aesthetic appeals in different cultures. This article uses country
culture clusters (Ronen and Shenkar, 1985) and semantic differentials (Osgood et al.,
1957) for examining the communication values of colour. Even though differences
remain, there are values that transcend national frontiers, thereby making it possible
to construct inter-market segments. The cultural clusters shown in Table 1 are based
on language and communication similarities and indicate the meanings and
associations of colours in select clusters. Table 1 also shows that most research has
been done in English-speaking or some Asian countries, with little research into
colour associations in Southeast Asian, Indian, Near Eastern, Middle Eastern,
Hispanic American or African states.

CountryCulture cluster
Colour

Anglo-Saxon

Germanic

Latin

Nordic

Slavic

Chinese

Japanese

Korean

ASEAN

White

Purity
Happiness
High quality
Corporate
Masculine
Envy
Good taste

Happy
Jealousy

Masculine
Love
Lust
Fear
Anger
Authority
Power

Expensive
Fear
Grief

Warm
Feminine

Envy
Jealousy

Fear
Anger
Jealousy

Fear
Anger
Grief

Envy

Envy
Infidelity

Masculine

Fear
Anger
Grief

Cold
Masculine

Positive

Envy

Fear
Anger
Jealousy

Anger
Envy
Jealousy
Fear
Anger

Death
Mourning
High quality
Trustworthy

Pure
Reliable

Pure
Good taste
Royal
Authority
Love
Happiness
Lucky

Expensive
Love

Expensive
Powerful

Death
Mourning
High quality
Trustworthy

Love
Happy

Envy
Good taste

Love
Anger
Jealousy

Expensive
Sin
Fear
Expensive
Powerful

Death
Mourning
High quality
Trustworthy

Pure
Adventure

Happiness
Good taste

Love
Adventure
Good taste

Expensive
Love

Expensive
Powerful

Death
Mourning
Cold
Evil
(Malaysia)
Danger
Disease
(Malaysia)

Blue
Green
Yellow

Red

Purple
Black

19

Multiple sources: Oyama et al. (1963, cited in Hupka et al., 1997), Kreitler and Kreitler (1972, cited in Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999), Ricks (1983), Jacobs et al.
(1991), Schmitt (1995), Hupka et al. (1997), Schiffman et al. (2001) and Neal et al. (2002). The country clusters are adapted from Ronen and Shenkar (1985). The
absence of any concrete reported research findings for particular cultural clusters are denoted by dashes.

Are You Selling the Right Colour?

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Table 1. The cross-cultural spectrum of meanings and associations of colour in marketing

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M. M. Aslam

With regard to cross-cultural meanings and associations of individual colours,

white symbolizes mourning or death in East Asia (Ricks, 1983), but happiness and
purity in Australia, New Zealand and the USA (Neal et al., 2002). Blue, which is the
American corporate colour, is perceived as cold and evil in East Asia (Schmitt,
1995), but stands for warmth in The Netherlands, coldness in Sweden, death in Iran
and purity in India (Schiffman et al., 2001). It denotes femininity in The
Netherlands, but masculinity in Sweden and the USA (Neal et al., 2002). Blue
means high quality, trustworthy and dependable in the USA, Japan, Korea and
China (Jacobs et al., 1991). Green represents danger or disease in Malaysia (Ricks,
1983) and envy in Belgium and the USA (Hupka et al., 1997). Green denotes love,
happiness, good taste and adventure in Japan, sincere, trustworthy and dependable
in China and good taste and adventure in the USA (Jacobs et al., 1991).
Red means unlucky in Chad, Nigeria and Germany, but lucky in China, Denmark
and Argentina (Schmitt, 1995; Neal et al., 2002). It is a brides colour in China, but a
masculine colour in the UK and France (Neal et al., 2002). It shows ambition and
desire in India (Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999) and love in China, Korea, Japan and
the USA (Jacobs et al., 1991). Yellow represents warmth in the USA, but infidelity in
France (Neal et al., 2002). It is associated with envy and jealousy in Germany and
Russia (Hupka et al., 1997), whereas it means pleasant, happy, good taste,
progressive, authority, royal and trustworthy in China (Schmitt, 1995).
Purple is a colour of love in China, South Korea and the USA (Jacobs et al.,
1991), but is related to anger and envy in Mexico and to sin and fear in Japan
(Hupka et al., 1997). Purple is considered as expensive in China, South Korea and
Japan (Jacobs et al., 1991). Black is associated with dullness and stupidity in India
(Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999). It represents grief and sorrow in Western cultures,
but is also a ceremonial dress for priests and justices and a dress of subservience for
waiters and servants. Japanese connect black with fear and it represents fear, anger
and jealousy in Germany, Russia, Poland, Mexico and the USA (Hupka et al., 1997).
Black is seen as powerful and expensive in the USA, China, Japan and South Korea
and also as dependable, trustworthy and of high quality in China (Jacobs et al.,
1991).
The incidence of blue-seven phenomenon (Silver et al., 1988; Hemphill, 1996), age(Boyatzis and Varghese, 1994) and gender-specific preferences (Choungourian, 1968;
Yang, 2001) suggests that local customs and demographic factors such as age, sex
and ethnicity may also be considered in explaining the communication values of
colour. The cross-cultural symbolism of colour discussed in the above paragraphs
and in Table 1 is explained in Fig. 2 using semantic differentials along hypothetical
continua.
Osgood et al. (1957) suggested that, on evaluative scales, the interaction between
colour and product is statistically significant, reinforcing the need for culturally
accepted colours to go with particular products, whereas on activity scales the
ordering of colours generally followed the hue dimension, that is red and yellow
towards the active end, black and white more or less neutral and green, violet and
blue towards the passive end of the spectrum. The colours order along the saturation
dimension on potency scales, that is, the more saturated the colour, the more potent
becomes the object being judged. It appears that the evaluative effect of colour
interacts with the nature of an object, whereas the effects of colour upon judged

21

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Are You Selling the Right Colour?

Figure 2. Cross-cultural colour symbolism in marketing (not to scale) (hypothetical plotting of

the research data from Table 1 along select semantic differential continua)

activity and the potency of objects with which they are associated are systematic and
parallel the hue and saturation dimensions, respectively. Osgood et al. (1957) also
suggested that colour in a background is likely to be more favourable than colour in
a product on the evaluative dimensions. Not enough use of semantic differentials

22

M. M. Aslam

along select concepts for eliciting colour associations has been made in later studies
and more research is required into this area.

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Effects of Colour in Marketing

Colour is a vital part of products, services, packages, logos, displays and collateral. It
is a potent cue for product and brand differentiation (Schmitt and Pan, 1994) and for
creating and sustaining corporate identities (Garber et al., 2000; Madden et al., 2000)
and consumer perceptions (Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999). Figure 3 shows the basic
interactions of colour in marketing. Note that the acrongms CI, POP and POS in
Fig.3 denote Corporate Image, Point of Purchase and Point of Sale respectively.
Colouring the Product
Product and category imagery. Colour reveals product attributes. Kotler (1973)
argued that the tangible product is only a small part of the total consumption
package and that buyers respond to the total product including pleasantries, imagery
and collateral. Cheskin & Masten Inc. (1987) held that, while product quality is the
ultimate determinant of consumer satisfaction, imagery is the vehicle that generates
interest via sensation transference among the target population, thereby implying
that the emotional response so triggered by colours in products, packages and logos
influences consumer perceptions of the product and the company. The Lanham Act
in the USA also protects product colour as trade dress, provided it confers
secondary meanings (Kilmer, 1995).

Figure 3. Basic interactions of colour in marketing

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Are You Selling the Right Colour?

23

Colour signals a products attributes for merchandise, thereby influencing

perceptions about price and quality (Kerfoot et al., 2003). Colour is the least
expensive way of changing the product (Parmar, 2004). For instance, in the UK
white is perceived as crap and below average, while neutral or beige is perceived as
boring and dull but expensive and for a mature person, whereas pink, perceived as
look young and red, perceived as garish and tacky, are both considered as average
priced (Kerfoot et al., 2003). Darker colours are often associated with richness and
value in the USA, as seen in the dark grey colour used for expensive, high
technological products (Stanton et al., 1994), although some novel, sophisticated
colours in this category have also been successful in recent years.
With regard to food, the colour we see foretells the flavour we will taste
(Downham and Collins, 2000). Consumers often perceive the flavour of ice creams
or cakes by their colour. Food colour affects consumers ability for correctly
identifying flavour and forming distinct flavour profiles and dominates other flavour
information sources including labelling and taste (Garber et al., 2000), implying that
altering the food colour could affect consumer preferences. Martnez et al. (2002)
also found colour to be a key factor affecting the acceptability of biscuits in
Argentina. However, the effectiveness of novel food colours in international markets
still remains to be determined.
Colour evokes strong product associations and category imageries. In the USA
blue is associated with toys, health foods, dairy foods, desserts and financial services,
red is related to toys, pizzas and meat entrees, silver is related to dairy foods, green is
related to health foods, vegetable entrees, toys and financial services, yellow is
related to toys, dairy foods, health foods and desserts and pink is related to
cosmetics and Barbie dolls (Cheskin & Masten Inc., 1987). Trends in colour
preferences have shown undulations over time (see House & Garden, 1970) though it
is not clear if the reported changes were fashions, fads, seasonal or mere temporal
associations shown by the consumers.
Product differentiation. Colour is useful in creating a different value from the
environment or the competition. A marketer could launch a product colour that is
typical of the category or differentiate from the category by using additional colour
cues or delinking the relationship between colour and the products perceived quality
or flavour. Apple, Gatorade and M&Ms have used this effectively by launching
novel coloured product lines (Garber et al., 2000; Parmar, 2004), whereas Pepsi has
left the traditional red colour associated with soft drinks and tried to create new
colour associations by choosing blue as its colour (Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999).
Although transparent products are intended to be associated with favourable
attributes such as purity and mildness, they still run the risk of being perceived as low
grade. Past attempts at seeking a competitive edge by eliminating colour in the
products, such as Palmolive Sensitive Skin Liquid Washing Detergent by Palmolive,
Crystal Pepsi by Pepsi and Tab Clear by Coca-Cola, have not been so successful
(Stanton et al., 1994). It is advisable to select, modify, intensify or standardize the
colours commonly associated with particular products. Social conformity is an
important factor in consumer decision making and consumers often follow the
subjective norms in their colour preferences, particularly in high-involvement
decisions (Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999). Thus, there appear stronger relations of

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M. M. Aslam

colour with a brands name, particularly for familiar brands and the effects of colour
are probably stronger for branded than for unbranded products, for consumer than
for industrial goods and for high-involvement products.
It is critical not to ignore culture-specific colour associations. Use of adverse
product colours in alien cultures can cause strategic failure. For instance, use of
purple and black colours by Samsonite in Mexico (Parmar, 2004), ice blue colour by
Pepsi in Southeast Asia and wearing white carnations by concierges of United
Airlines on its Pacific routes (Neal et al., 2002), where these colours symbolized
death and mourning in the target markets, underscores the need for using the right
product colour.
Self-image. Colour signals individual personality and self-image. We live in a world
of colour, but simple questions such as what colour to paint our homes are often
hard to answer. People choose the colours of their cars, homes, clothes and even
sports shoes depending on how they wish to present themselves (Trinkaus, 1991).
The colour choice could be consistent or complementary to the desired self-image
(Madden et al., 2000) or related to the multiplicity of purchases being made (Kerfoot
et al., 2003). However, to what extent a product, package or brand colour influences
a consumers self-image and trial or adoption of a product remains to be explored
further.
Colour exercises potent socialization effects. There are colour associations with
festivals, holidays and consumer rituals. Blue is associated with Hanukkah and New
Year, red with Christmas and New Year, green with Christmas, black with
Halloween, orange with Halloween and Thanksgiving (Cheskin & Masten Inc.,
1987) and red and pink with Valentines Day (Kaufman-Scarborough, 2001). In
most Asian countries, white skin is associated with beauty and class whereas black
skin is related to hard labour. The annual growth rate of approximately 20% in the
Indian skin whitener market (Kotabe and Helsen, 2001) also indicates colour
association with the consumer self.
Country of origin effects. Choungourian (1968) showed that colour preferences
are not identical across countries. He found that red was the most preferred colour by Americans, green by the Lebanese and bluegreen by Iranians and Kuwaitis.
Jacobs et al. (1991) found red to be most strongly related to China, purple to France, green to both France and Italy and, while the American subjects associated
the USA with blue, other Asian subjects related her with red. Similarly, orange
is the favourite colour in The Netherlands, since her monarchy is the House of
Orange.
Colour combinations or specifically coloured packaging are often used in
highlighting the country of origin of products in foreign markets. Madden et al.
(2000) found that colours are paired with other colours of consistent or
complementary meanings. Green was paired with yellow in Canada and China,
with blue in Colombia, with white in Austria and also with red in China. Blue was
paired primarily with white and yellow in these countries. Such colour combinations
could be useful in making smart marketing decisions in international markets.
However, present research on the use of optimal colour pairs and the relationship of
national colours to products, packages or brands is limited.

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25

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Package colour. A brightly coloured package is likely to draw more attention than
a dull package (Neal et al., 2002) and adapting a package design to a local culture is
useful. For instance, Berg-Weitzel and Laar (2001) found that packages for
deodorants for women used greater contrast and brighter colours in Hofstedes
(1991) feminine cultures, whereas they used soft harmonious colours and low
contrast in masculine societies. In addition, whilst most consumers in the USA,
Japan, South Korea and China associated green with a can of vegetables and yellow
with a box of candies or laundry detergent, there was little agreement on package
colours for soaps, cigarettes and headache remedies (Jacobs et al., 1991).
Colouring the Brand Identity and Corporate Image
Colour makes the brand. Moser (2003) illustrated that three factors, namely the level
of sophistication of colour, distinctiveness within a category and the ability to elicit
an emotional response, influence the corporate choice. Simple colours are vibrant
and intense as seen in traffic signs, Toys R Us and McDonalds, whereas
sophisticated colours denote elegance and intimate communication as used by Laura
Ashley, Armani, Tiffany and Jaguar. Colour distinctiveness within a category or
visual branding allows for visual brand differentiation as seen in the use of
corporate colours by oil companies such as Shell, BP and Chevron and by car rentals
such as Hertz, Avis and Budget. Colour also facilitates emotional branding and
companies could use colours associated with specific emotions in order to target the
psychogenic heterogeneity of the market.
Colour communicates corporate position. Blue stands for solid, responsible,
financial services, green for innovative, caring organizations and yellow for young,
bright and exciting firms in the USA (Cheskin & Masten Inc., 1987). Whereas blue is
the corporate colour in the USA, red is the winning business colour in East Asia
(Schmitt and Pan, 1994). Colour is also a powerful cue assisting brand recall
(Tavassoli and Han, 2002). For instance, red is associated with Coke, Sara Lee and
Mickey Mouse, blue with IBM and Pepsi, pink with Barbie dolls and green with 7Up and Canada Dry (Cheskin & Masten Inc., 1987). Although colour has weak
associations with top clothing brands and it is difficult to use it as a cue for
recognizing a particular fashion brand (Kerfoot et al., 2003), colour remains a potent
independent variable in managing corporate image consistency and its strategic use
could create specific associations across markets.
Colours visualauditory synaesthesia (see Marks, 1997) could also have a
powerful application in marketing. Implying that, if a natural relationship exists
between colours and sounds or particular musical instruments or if verbal arousal
could lead to visual arousal and a particular imagery is evoked through words
(coloured vowels) or auditory cues (coloured music or hearing), then it is likely that
matching words in the body copy or package or signage or jingles act as stimuli
generating positive imageries, emotions and moods in consumers. Experimental
synaesthesia may be induced with visual or auditory stimuli in order to trial its
influence on affect and purchase intent and should reveal whether particular
consumers or products exhibit synaesthetic effects via visual or auditory routes.
Early findings have suggested that cross-language differences in colour naming and
salience exist (Jameson and Alvarado, 2003) and visual brand identifiers are

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M. M. Aslam

integrated in the memory more easily with Chinese brand names, whereas auditory
brand identifiers are integrated in the memory more easily with English brand names
(Tavassoli and Han, 2002).

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Colouring the Atmospherics

Colour forms an integral element of atmospheric and spatial orientation (Kotler,
1973). Colour association is context bound (Grieve, 1991): for example pink in
hospitals and schools has a passive, soothing effect, green has a calming effect and
red has an intense, gripping effect (Moser, 2003). Blue and green colours are used in
sports goods stores, whereas red is common in casinos (Grossman and Wisenblit,
1999). Further research is required in order to establish whether the spatial effects of
colour are biological or social in origin.
Colour acts as a surrogate cue in the retail environment. Bellizzi et al. (1983) found
that warm colours (red, orange and yellow) are better in physically attracting
customers into a store and are particularly suitable for store windows, entrances and
point-of-purchase displays, but are viewed as disruptive for consumer decision
making inside the store. Conversely, cool colours (blue and green) go well with the
display and are more appropriate when customers face tough purchase decisions. A
cross-cultural view of the use of colour in the retail environment is essential as the
services sector goes global.
Colouring the Advertising Messages
Colour is instrumental in attracting consumer attention to media advertisements.
Rossiter and Bellman (2004) argued that colour in print messages strongly reinforces
attention and a full-colour newspaper advertisement has almost the same probability
of attention as a 30-second television commercial (0.65). Research shows that
adapting advertisement execution to the local preferences, culture and marketing mix
for each foreign market is effective (Hornik, 1980; Berg-Weitzel and Laar, 2001).
Advertisers tend to show products in similar colours in certain categories or for
particular consumers and avoid creating any incongruence. Lee and Barnes (1989)
found that the product and colour of print advertisements and the product and type
of magazine were correlated and there were differences in the use of colour in racially
oriented magazine advertising but not so between gender-sensitive magazines. It will
be important to consider the colour relationship with the target audience and the
nature of the message and product and the medium itself.
Colour reflects consumer values in advertisements. For instance, Volkswagen
showed a black sheep in a flock in Italy in order to portray the VW Golf owner as an
independent self-assured person. A black sheep in Italy is the symbol of
independence and going ones own way whereas in other cultures it is a symbol of
the outcast (Schiffman et al., 2001). Apple and Benetton have used colour for
creating universal appeals in their advertisement campaigns. The recent launch of the
iPod has used several bright colours aimed at pulling the younger audience.
Similarly, the United Colours of Benetton campaign shows a picture of three
children, a Black, a Caucasian and an Oriental, all sticking out their tongues.

Are You Selling the Right Colour?

27

Though the children vary in their clothes and skin colour, it is implied that they
exhibit the same universal trait as all have pink tongues (Blackwell et al., 1993).

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Discussion
The gaps in Table 1 and Fig. 2 and the preceding paragraphs indicate that plenty of
work lies ahead in this area for energizing marketing communications in the twentyfirst century. Colours tend to alter the meanings of the objects or situations with
which they are associated and colour preferences can predict consumer behaviour.
The meanings given to some colours may be pan-cultural, while some are regional
and some are unique to specific cultures and it is imperative to explore the meanings
and effects of a chosen colour in the target market before the launch of a product or
promotion campaign.
Figure 4 proposes an interpretative model of colour application in marketing.
Definitive colour associations and meanings such as on universal versus culturespecific or along semantic differential continua, differences in gender, age and
ethnic preferences and the interaction effects between colour and the object/
context will have to be determined. Conjoint analysis, structural equation modelling,
word associations, semantic scales, projective techniques, eye tracking and focus
groups are just some of the tools that could be employed. The discovery of correct

Figure 4. A hypothetical model of colour application in marketing (arrows show the direction
of influence)

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M. M. Aslam

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colourculture clusters, identifying potential inter-market segments and developing a

cross-cultural interpretative colour theory in marketing is essential. Thus, the
following are proposed.
(1) A cross-cultural perspective of colour research and application is vital for
developing global marketing strategies.
(2) The cultural values, marketing objectives and desired customer relationship
levels in the target market determine the choice of colour in making global or
local marketing decisions.
(3) Both culturally and structurally stable branding and packaging models
maximize the marketing goals of the firm.
Colour enables an individual to discriminate between competing sensory stimuli
and the case of a colour-deficient consumer deserves attention here. Marketers have
often ignored genetic or acquired colour deficiencies that may render the use of
colour as an ineffective cue (Kaufman-Scarborough, 2000, 2001). It remains to be
seen how best marketers could reach out to colour-deficient consumers.
With the internationalization of markets and growing consumer demand in the
emerging economies, increased competition is likely to come from native businesses
that enjoy a better understanding of the local environment and which could upgrade
or expand their nature and quality of operations in the future. The debate on the
perception, meanings, associations and effects of colour in marketing is likely to
grow and the decision to pursue a customized or a standardized marketing strategy
may rest on whether the meanings or associations of colour are similar or different
across cultures. A dynamic culture-sensitive approach in colour research and its
strategic use will enhance corporate image, predict purchasing behaviour and
reinforce customer relationships, allowing foreign businesses to establish valuebased marketing systems and develop a competitive advantage in the emerging
markets.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Jose L. Abrantes and Patrick De Pelsmacker for their important
post-conference comments, John R. Rossiter for drawing two references to his
attention, namely House & Garden (1970) and Cheskin & Masten Inc. (1987) and
the two extremely helpful reviewers at the Tenth International Conference on
Corporate & Marketing Communications for their suggestions on an earlier version
of this article.
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Notes on Contributor
Mubeen Aslam is a doctoral student in marketing at the University of Wollongong,
Australia. This article is based on the paper he presented at the Tenth International
Conference on Corporate & Marketing Communications, held on 89 April 2005 in
Nicosia, which received a prize for the best competitive paper. He holds a double
first degree in political science and journalism (BA) and in medicine (MBBS) from
the University of Punjab, Lahore (Pakistan) and a master of commerce with merit
(M.Com) from the University of Sydney, Australia.