The colours that surround us affect our behaviour and our feelings. Many psychologists have studied the significance of colours and have shown that they are perceived in various ways, producing some kind of reaction amongst most people.
Manchester United, Communism, Ferrari, Coca Cola, McDonald’s… what connects them? The colour red. Research has proved that the sight of colour red incites hunger and thirst. McDonald’s, Coca Cola and Red Bull are testimony to this fact. Red also signifies victory. It is no surprise that some of the top sports teams have red in their jersey’s and insignias – Manchester United ( Alas ! not the last few years ), Liverpool, Ferrari among others.
We have colours around us that impact our lives. Wake up and brush your teeth… the toothpaste is white if it is dental cream; red, green or blue in case of gel. The morning tea and coffee is brown or black depending on your milk preference. If you happen to be a teetotaller, white milk may be your drink. Breakfast time and the butter and cheese you eat is yellow. So even before you step out of your home for work or college, you end up seeing close to eight colours.
One emotion can have different colours in different parts of the world. Mourning in the UK is black, White in India and in Brazil, it’s purple. An international marketing manager must be sensitive to these facts!!
The different colours help us bind together as a group – Black for all the pseudo-Satan worshippers and metalheads around the globe, Red scarves and jerseys Manchester United fans, Blue for all the Team India for cricket and football, Green for all the capitalists. These clusters have people of different race, class and sex. You’ll find a Caucasian Eminem rapping about the Ghetto with his African-American counterparts, Indian Metal bands with names like Demonic Resurrection and an African endorsing Yoga!!
However, colours segment people right from the time they come out of the mother’s womb. A girl gets a pink towel and the boy gets a blue. People are white, black, brown and yellow. We have white collar jobs and blue collar jobs. The economy is in red or green depending on which part of the world you live in.
Are colours binding us or fragmenting us? Well… I don’t know. In case you figure out, do let me know. Google, in my opinion, is a smart operator considering the colours of the six alphabets in its names keep changing!!
The colour that I see as green… Is it really green? Maybe I was taught by a colour blind teacher in kindergarten who couldn’t differentiate between green and blue. The teacher wouldn’t have known she was colourblind. Have I all my life known blue as green? Team India’s fatigues are green? The vast oceans are green? The sky is green? I hope that’s not the case. I pray that my perception of green is same as the rest of the world.
I wonder – Are black and white shades of grey?
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