THE IMPORTANCE AND EFFECT OF COLOR IN PRINT ADVERTISING

ABSTRACT

Advertising plays a huge role in the society that is present today. Advertising has evolved as society and technology have evolved, catering to what pleases the products audience best. In just one lifetime the strategies used within the advertising industry have changed tremendously, one of the biggest changes seen within the past century was the introduction of color into print advertisements. The importance of using color in print advertisements as well as what colors are most effective is explored in this study. This study specifically looks at how large of a role an individuals age, gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic affiliation plays in color preferences. A survey was taken by 254 participants from different backgrounds both geographically and socioeconomically. The data collected from the survey was then analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. An analysis of variance was conducted on the quantitative data, as well as ttests. Coding and categorizing was used to analyze the qualitative data. The aim of this study was to provide practical information about what colors are most effective in advertisements today.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Advertising has been around for as long as people have been consumers, although taking shape in many different forms. Advertising has evolved as society and technology have evolved, catering to what pleases the products audience best. In just one lifetime the strategies used within the advertising industry have changed tremendously, one of the biggest changes seen within the past century was the introduction of color into print advertisements. Studies have documented the importance of color in advertising effectiveness.

While many studies highlight the effectiveness of using color in an advertisement, there has been a lack of research regarding color preference across gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic regions. The purpose of this study is to determine how effective the use of color is in advertisements, and why certain colors are more effective to use in advertisements than others. This study asked if certain colors are more appealing to certain audiences and if there is difference in color preference depending on gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic location. In the final results, participants age was included as well.

This study used a survey to capture the data needed. Individuals took part in different sections of the survey, all with different purposes. One section of the survey asked participants to submit one word that they most associate with the colors; green, blue, white, red, and orange. The purpose of this was to see if particular individuals have different meanings for a specific color. In a study done by Trueman, it was concluded that individuals from different cultures had different color preferences because they had different meanings for different colors