How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 370

Color Triggers
Countless hours of research indicate that color does matter. Notice how
fast food restaurants, schools, and professional sports teams all choose
certain colors that "represent" them. You already know that colors can
suggest a mood or attitude, but did you also know that color accounts for
60 percent of the acceptance or rejection of an object or a person?[10]
These impressions don't change overnight. We all have automatic color
triggers and hidden associations about various colors. Color impacts our
thinking, our actions, and our reactions. Armed with this knowledge, we
must take into account the association of colors in our persuasion and
marketing efforts.
Color is a great persuasive device. Since we don't perceive what is
happening, we don't develop a resistance to persuasive color techniques.
This process happens at a completely subconscious level. Color is critical
in marketing, in advertising, and in product packaging. Colors are not just
for appearance — they have significance. The favorite food colors are red,
yellow, orange, and brown.[11] These colors trigger automatic responses
in our nervous system and stimulate our appetite. Fast food restaurants
decorate with shades of red, yellow, and orange. These hues are known as
"arousal colors" because they stimulate the appetite and encourage you to
eat faster. Compare these bright colors to the calming colors found in fine
restaurants. These restaurants tend to use greens and blues in their design
schemes, colors which encourage you to stay and linger.
Colors can also be used to attract our attention. The shades that grab our
attention are reds and oranges. The challenge is that each color has
multiple meanings; one person might draw one meaning while another
person might conclude an entirely different meaning. Red can be exciting
to one group and mean "unprofitable" to another. To others it could signal
"stop" or "danger." Red can denote boldness, aggressiveness, and
extroversion, but it also represents anger, danger, sin, and blood. Yellow
is known as a fast color and is the first color to register in the brain.
Yellow causes you to be alert and watchful. The results of such research
explain why new fire trucks and fire hydrants are being painted yellow.
An interesting study on the use of color occurred at the U.S. Naval
Correctional Center in Seattle, Washington. The entire holding cell was
painted pink, except for the floor. Many inmates at this stage of
confinement were hostile and violent. The cell was painted pink to see
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