Color Marketing
Many businesses raise sales by using color marketing. Color marketing is a strategy that uses color to stimulate our desire and maximize sales. Pink has been booming in the fashion, cosmetics, interior design, and electronics industries since this spring. Some examples are the hot pink products of Laneige, the pink laser phones of Motorola, and the Hyolee Pink lipstick of Biotherm. Kinoshita Yorico, a color counselor, wrote it in her book, “Color Counseling Essentials to Success” (2005), that pink implies a wish to live peacefully and happily. The pink boom may show our desire to get out of our psychologically unstable lives.
Color marketing is used in movie posters too. A movie poster’s particular colors give us an impression of the movie. Some examples are the yellow of “Kill Bill”’s, the red of “Purpose of Love,”’s and the blue of “Superman Returns.”’s Kill Bill’s main character, played by Uma Thurman, wears the yellow training clothes of Lee So-ryong. “Purpose of Love” used red to express a man and woman’s love. In “Superman Returns,” Superman’s uniform is blue, and we see him flying in the blue sky. In this age of selling images, not products, colors play a big role as a means to represent images.
Color Therapy
Recently, color therapy has become very popular. It is said to improve health and promote psychological stability. Color therapy is a part of art therapy that believes lights have energy. An energy’s characteristic varies according to its color.
The most active field in color psychology is interior design. If a couple needs active conversation, use yellow because it encourages them to talk easily. If someone needs composure, use green because it helps to relieve stress and strengthen concentration. Romantic couples should use pink in decorating their bedroom. When you decorate a child’s study room, the most helpful color is blue because it lowers tension and improves potential ability. For old people’s health, use brown and gold wallpaper because those colors give the feeling of placidity and calmness. Color therapy is also practiced on pregnant women. Pregnant women feel better when surrounded by yellow and orange in daily life. Yellow and orange help the pregnant woman to feel cheerful and gentle.
Art therapists can read a patient’s individual condition and unconscious mind from the colors a patient chooses. Neurosurgery specialist Kimura Shin found that art therapy had an effect on Alzheimer patients by revitalizing the function of nerve cells. According to his research, 73% of 64 Alzheimer patients were found not to worsen, and 25% of them improved.
Many people have started to realize the importance of color through the various mass media. It is widely known that colors have mental and psychological effects and have been used a lot in ordinary life. If we use colors for our physical and mental condition, we will live a more comfortable life.
Which color suits your feeling the most right now amongst these 12 colors? Check your present mental state with the colors.*
Red - You are very assertive and need to listen to other people.
Blue - You are very rational, but you can get stressed from hiding your mind.
Green - You are very creative, but you are tired physically and mentally.
Yellow - You have an open mind, but you are likely to feel lonely.
Orange - You try to be in harmony with other people, but it is also important to let your own voice out.
Brown - You are secular and want a stable life, but you can be stingy.
Gray - You are trying to be perfect and need somebody to share your trouble with.
Black - You are sensible, but also stubborn.
White - You pursue the ideal and you lack sense of the real.
Pink - You are very nice and affectionate, but also demanding.
Purple - You have an aesthetic sense and enjoy your private life, but you need more communication with other people.
Sky Blue - You are considerate of other people, but sensitive and vulnerable.
* Kinoshita, A. (2005) “Color Counseling Essentials to Success” .
Seoul: Vision Korea. P37
