July 7, 2025

Raina Ho

11th Grade

Lakeland High School

What is Color Theory?

Whether it be the bright and loud colors flashing at you on an online advertisement or a mundane commercial using a grayscale, the colors you see are chosen intentionally to make you, the viewer, feel and perceive the brand in a certain way.

Color Theory is described as the way in which different colors interact with one another and how they affect our emotions and perceptions. Understanding that certain hue patterns and themes affect people in different ways, businesses across the world have been using Color Theory to their advantage to make their advertisements resonate with consumers on a deeper level. 

For instance, Coca-Cola brands itself with the color red, a pigment that represents fearlessness, energy, and power. In a statement from the company itself, Coca-Cola explains, “Our vision is to craft the brands and choice of drinks that people love and enjoy, to refresh them in body and spirit.” The brand goes beyond just selling soda: they sell feelings. Their successful career proves precisely why Color Theory plays such an important role in marketing and why it persists as continuity in advertising strategies in countless businesses.

How Does Color Theory Affect Consumers?

90% of a customer's first impression of an advertisement is decided by color; however, Color Theory works differently depending on whether or not it’s the brand’s intended audience. Someone’s identity, such as gender, culture, and background, all play a role in how each individual perceives an advertisement. In other words, whether or not someone gives your business a second glance is decided by how you present your brand through color, and who your brand is intended for. For example, clothing stores such as J. Crew, which specialize in men’s clothing, use more masculine-associated colors like black and dark green. 

Consistent branding helps with brand recognition with consumers; as certain colors become associated with a certain brand, the business starts to become more easily recognizable through that one color or color scheme. This can be seen through the company Nickelodeon with its signature color orange, or with McDonald’s iconic red and yellow. 

How Do Businesses Use Color Theory?

Whether at a clothing, grocery, or department store, the classic discount sign is easily recognizable, yelling at consumers with loud red lettering. There’s a specific reason businesses do this: as humans continue to be creatures of habit, the color red has been continuously been associated with impulse and immediate action, which can be proven with stop signs or traffic lights. Understanding this subconscious call to action, businesses have taken advantage of the color red to make their visitors hesitate before passing on a certain purchase or breezing past that infamous discount sign. 

It’s important to remember that not only do colors by themselves make an impact on consumers, but also certain themes help personalize a brand for the customer even further. For example, McDonald's as a company embodies a fun and bold spirit, as their color choices are loud and bright with their signature red and yellow hues, whereas by contrast, PayPal is known for its more calm and darker shades of blue, signifying dependability and loyalty towards its customer base. 

Employing Color Theory in marketing continues to be useful as businesses continue to evolve. From being used in logo-making to discount signs, utilizing color to target the minds of consumers serves as an efficient way of paving a path to marketing success.