The internet is chock full of infographics and posts that explain the psychological associations of various colors to help people and brands choose the perfect hue for their product, logo, or living room wall. These posts are entertaining, but there’s one serious problem with them if you’re actually planning to use the information for any kind of significant decision: what colors mean varies wildly from culture to culture.
Take yellow, for instance. Most of people in America instantly associate the color with the sun, school buses, and happy emojis. It’s cheerful, upbeat, and energizing. But if you paint your living room yellow in order to lift your visitors’ spirits, you might run into problems if a Chinese or French exchange student comes to stay.
In France, “yellow signifies jealousy, betrayal, weakness, and contradiction. In the 10th century, the French painted the doors of traitors and criminals yellow,” explains the Huffington Post. “In China, yellow is associated with pornography. When the Chinese term for ‘yellow picture’ or ‘yellow book’ is used to discuss any type of publication or media, it’s in reference to pornographic images and websites.”
Meanwhile, visitors from many parts of Africa or Thailand might think you a little pretentious. Yellow is associated with royalty or those of high rank in these regions.
The issue goes well beyond just one color, though. Yellow is emblematic of the shifting meaning of color, but most shades have different associations in different parts of the world. Here’s a partial list (or check out this chart for a really deep dive):
- Purple: in the West, purple is generally associated with both royalty and spirituality, but in Brazil and Thailand, purple is is the color of mourning.
- White: as any westerner who’s ever been to a wedding can tell you, white is traditionally associated with purity here. However, “in China, Korea, and some other Asian countries white represents death, mourning, and bad luck, and is traditionally worn at funerals,” according to the stock photo site Shutterstock.
- Black: Americans tend to see black as either sophisticated or grim, but in Africa, the color is generally associated with maturity and masculinity.
- Blue: Traditionally a “boy’s color” in the West, in China, it’s associated with femininity.
- Pink: You’re most likely to see pink on a baby girl or a sweet-shop sign in the States. In Latin America, it’s mostly painted on buildings, hence its association with architecture. China didn’t even recognize the color before western influences came to the country. It’s still called “the foreign color.”
All of this is fascinating as a symbol of humans’ beautiful diversity, but while shifting color associations are a charming curiosity for most of us, for designers and marketers, they can be a real headache.
Legend has it that Pepsi, for instance, saw a dip in sales in Southeast Asia in the 50s when it changed the color of its coolers from dark to ice blue, which is associated with death in some parts of the region. EuroDisney had to pull back on the purple in its branding because many Catholic Europeans associate the color with the crucifixion rather than a fun day out.
The bottom line is this: if you’re hoping to make a statement with your color choice — either personal or commercial — know that your palette probably won’t read the same to folks from different parts of the world. If you’re hoping to communicate internationally, you’ll need to take varying color interpretations into account. Be thoughtful and sensitive to local culture is the key!
Check out my related post: Why so many fast food logos are red?
Interesting reads:
https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/color-symbolism-and-meanings-around-the-world
https://k-international.com/blog/color-meanings-around-the-world/
http://blog.dynamiclanguage.com/the-meaning-of-colors-around-the-world
https://curiosity.com/topics/colors-mean-wildly-different-things-around-the-world-curiosity/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-colors-mean-in-other_b_9078674
https://www.blog.bidroom.com/meanings-of-colours-around-the-world/
Interesting and informative article! I had never thought about how colors might be interpreted around the world.
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Thanks for reading!
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Hi abetterman21 and kmom,
Yes, it is a very interesting topic, and there are still a lot more that can be learnt. For instance, some cultures or tribes have fewer colours in their vocabularies than what we generally have in the western or modern societies. The range is between two to eleven colours, as far as I can remember.
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Hmm, interesting. I have to look into that…a range of colours…
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Hi abetterman21,
Since you are interested in colours and colour perception, an important aspect of vision, I would like to recommend you to my special post published at https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2017/09/28/optical-illusions/
This said post covers the topics of optical illusions quite comprehensively. Given its length and scope, it will take some time to load fully. In addition, please be informed that you might need to use a desktop or laptop computer with a large screen to view the rich multimedia contents available for heightening your multisensory enjoyment at my websites, some of which could be too powerful and feature-rich for iPad, iPhone, tablet or other portable devices to handle properly or adequately.
May you and your family have a lovely Sunday!
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Thanks so much for sharing this. Let me check it out.
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Or stop worrying about who you’ll offend because someone will ALWAYS be offended if they’re looking to be. That’s on a micro scale, of course. Corporations do have to worry about the macro.
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Interesting and agree. For me, always a balanced approach.
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And that’s why I appreciate you, your blog and people like you. You have greater patience than I!
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=)
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The perspective differences are interesting!
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Thanks for the kind comments!
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Reblogged this on Mitch Teemley and commented:
My Featured Blogger this week is Addison of A Better Man. Addison describes himself as “a simple Singaporean guy who loves a challenge,” who is “always thinking about new ideas and ways of doing things.” and “passionate about creativity and dogged determination.” Unsurprisingly, then, his motto is, “Improve the world by improving yourself.”
I’ve followed Addison’s posts from early and have been delighted to see how his focus has grown sharper, his site more polished, and his following grown. What’s not to like?
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Thanks Mitch for the support! More posts to come!
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This is really cool.
Some of the eastern or others way of approaching colour is right. I remember telling someone (you can use colours to give you different energy things) that I used black for strength and it took her checking up the symbolism to believe I was right, because the western view is just the western view…
Love, light, and glitter
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=)
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Maybe this is why the most popular color these days seems to be grey.
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=) A wonderful colour to pair clothes with. At least for me!
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I enjoyed this informative post! It’s always so much fun to get a glimpse into other cultures.
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Yes it is! Hope you could check out my other posts.
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Yes, I took a little poke around!
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Thanks!
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You’re welcome!
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Fascinating and useful to know as a writer. Thank you for the info.
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Thanks for reading Janet.
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