RED boosts brain performance and receptivity to advertising. In a college marketing class I took, two weeks were devoted strictly to studying the color RED. Most successful brands have RED in their logo, and the color has been proven to activate "unconscious motivations" and behaviors with its usage. Thanks to stop signs, emergency vehicles and teachers' red pens, we associate red with danger, mistakes and caution. However, red is also associated with BLOOD, POWER, FORCE, DANGER, COMMAND, and MIND CONTROL. And for a over hundreds of years, red has also been used to paint the devil.
So let's take a closer look at the history of the color red because this lesson is very important. Wearing red coats was the exclusive right of the elite in medieval times, and the robes of kings, cardinals, judges and executioners who announced their power over life and death -- were purposely made in red. Red plays an important role in politics and is the most frequently used color for national flags. Red became the symbol of communism and socialism during the Russian Revolution in 1907. It was also the dominant color found in all Nazi branding. The general effect of red is stimulating and appetizing. The mere perception of red enhances the human metabolism by 13.4 %, and psychologists have found that aggression and violence can be easily triggered by the color red. It is also the favorite color of children, and red in advertising is used to evoke erotic feelings (red lips, red cars, etc). There are also studies which have shown that red provokes a physical reaction that immediately raises the blood pressure and increases the respiration rate. This is the real reason a majority of food products and drinks are branded and packaged in red. Red commands attention and focus to detail. It is a very authoritative color -- over all over colors.
For a class assignment on the first day covering RED in my marketing class, we were given a hat to pick a color from. And from that color, we were given thirty minutes to create a logo for ourselves. Before the end of the session, the professor flashed all the logos to everyone in the class to collectively vote on the best ones. Most of those who were given REDS beat out the rest.
But Suzy, you may ask, what about the color of passion and LOVE? The color of passion is really a sexy vibrant purple, and the color of love is truly YELLOW. Does it make sense for love and hate to be the same color - RED? But the heart is RED, you may ask. So is blood. When you are in love, don't you see YELLOW? And the Creator, isn't he defined as bold yellow light? Isn't yellow the color of divine light, or even a light bulb? When you are in love, you heart, mind, and soul reach a collective state of ecstasy that is truly YELLOW. And those energy fields that surround the bodies of the enlightened, aren't they also YELLOW? And when we laugh to the point where we have to use the restroom, do you see red or YELLOW in your mind? Yellow is not only the color for the sun and happiness, it is also the color of the purest kind of love -- the unconditional kind. It is no coincidence that Valentine's day and Christmas are painted all in red. Just seeing the color excites the consumer to BUY, BUY, BUY. The true color of TRUTH is white, and the true color for PEACE is ORANGE. If you take red (hate) and mix it evenly with yellow (love), you get ORANGE. This is why Buddhist monks drape themselves in orange.
-- Suzy Kassem
