Color Preferences of Men and Women

1. Color Preferences of Men and Women Georgia CTAE Resource Network Written by Dr. Frank B. Flanders and Brittany Norman

2. Enduring Understanding • Men and women can differ in their color preference. Businesses marketing to both or a single sex should consider colors favored in their advertising and other promotional ventures.

3. Essential Questions • How do colors affect people? • How do colors affect men vs. women? • Why should businesses consider color? • Why should businesses consider color based on preference of the sexes?

4. Background • Color is an important part of our daily lives. The right colors communicate meaning and please the eye, whereas the wrong colors can be unpleasant and even unsettling. As a marketing tool, color can also be a subliminally persuasive force. In contrast, using the wrong colors can be a costly mistake.

5. People Use Colors of Clothing and Accessories to: • Express themselves, especially their emotions. • Adapt to weather conditions– white to reflect heat/light and black to absorb warming light rays. • To help themselves feel confident with their bodies and appearance.

6. Businesses Use Color to Market Products: • Color increases brand recognition by up to 80% • Colors are used to ‘brand’ products and companies • Colors are used to indicate quality of the merchandise • Color can influence consumers’ purchase decisions • Color affects how consumers see things • Color affects consumer emotions • Color affects buying decisions • Color is used in ads because of its superior attention getting properties • Color can capture attention

7. Importance of Color to Business • It is extremely important to understand how color affects attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Marketers can then apply such knowledge to develop effective promotional strategies and tactics. The right colors empower and contribute to the success of advertising.

8. Color Effects • Different colors have varying effects on people. Colors can influence customers’ emotions, positively or negatively. Examples: • “Blue” is a cool color, associated with wealth, trust, peace, and security. It tends to lower blood pressure and pulse rate. • “Red” is a warm color. It creates excitement and stimulates people. Red tends to raise blood pressure and respiration. It may represent heat, danger, power, passion, strength, blood, war, energy, warmth, talent, violence, and courage.

9. Color in Advertising • Color is used to attract attention • Color enhances communication • Use colors in an attempt to differentiate products and services. • Color is used to emphasize word messages • Color can be used in advertising to attract attention and enhance communication through the illustration of visual and copy elements.

10. Color in Advertising • Color can be used to “Target Market” a product or service. ‘Target marketing’ is often important. For example, when selling women’s products, the advertiser should use colors that appeal to women, and when selling men’s products, the advertiser should use colors that appeal to men.

11. Activity • Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to determine the preferences of colors among men and women.

12. Color Preference Activity • The next slide will contain 10 colors • Rank on a sheet of paper the colors you like best from 1 to 10, with 1 being the best liked color and 10 being the least liked color.

13. Color Preference Activity continued… Example:

14. Color Preference Activity continued… • After you have your colors ranked, write your name on the paper and turn it into the teacher

15. Color Preference Activity continued… • Tabulating: Separate the papers by ‘Female’ and ‘Male’. • Prepare a tally form similar to the example shown on the next slide. • Write the ranks of the colors. Example: Blue, boys rank: 2, 4, 1, 1, 1, 9, 8, etc. • Add the ranks and divide the total by the number of boys to find an average. • Do the same for each color for each gender

16. Color Preference Activity continued… Tabulation example:

17. Color Preference Activity continued… Tabulation Sheet for Girls:

18. Color Preference Activity continued… Tabulation Sheet for Boys:

19. Rank the colors for Boys. Example: 1 Red (score of 8.05) 2 Orange (7.52) 3 Yellow (6.78) 4 Green (6.73) 5 Blue (5.84) 6 Purple (5.57) 7 Brown (5.26) 8 Gray (3.21) 9 Black (3.15) 10 White (2.47) Rank the colors for Girls. Example: 1 White (score of 8.12) 2 Black (7.31) 3 Gray (6.54) 4 Brown (6.19) 5 Purple (5.98) 6 Blue (5.43) 7 Green (5.11) 8 Yellow (4.10) 9 Orange (3.85) 10 Red (3.01) Color Preference Activity continued… Based on the calculated averages for each color,

20. Color Preference Activity continued… Based on the calculated averages for each color,

21. Color Preference Activity continued… • Review the color preferences found in a national research study

22. Color Preference Activity continued… Least Favorite Colors

23. Color Preference Activity National Rankings for Favorite Color

24. Did you Know? • Color preferences by gender can vary depending on the time period or culture • In our culture today, pink represents female and blue represents male • But before the early 1900s, pink was considered masculine and blue was considered feminine

25. Summary • What colors were liked best in your class? • What colors were liked best in the national study? • What differences are there between your class study and the national study? • How could advertisers use color with gender preferences in mind? • What would be a good color to use for a product used by both men and women?