Color My World Green
Color is a pretty important aspect of life for most of us fortunate enough to be able to perceive it (the 92% of men and over 99% of women who are not color blind). The world is clearly a more attractive place when you can bear witness to a shimmering blue ocean, a lush green rain forest, an orange harvest moon or a multi-color sky at dusk.
Indeed, the trichromatic human eye can apparently distinguish more than 10 million different colors! A few very rare human specimens, all female incidentally, are tetrachromatic, meaning that they have four types of cone receptors in the eye and can, therefore, see millions more shades of color than the rest of us. That may help explain why some folks spend so much of their time selecting the color of their clothes, hair, cars, walls, and cell phones.
But color transcends beauty; it conveys meaning. We have for a long time associated color with gender – despite the move toward eliminating gender distinctions, most parents are still wedded to the notion of a blue room and outfit for the lad, and a pink room and outfit for the lassie.
Now, psychologists and other researchers have concluded that color can play a major role in affecting our opinions, behavior and even mood. The choice of a color can help instill peace and tranquility, generate passion and conflict, or spark creativity and happiness. Marketers routinely employ color to infuse an image into our brains and to help persuade consumers to buy products and services.
As a non-scientist, and mere observer of the human condition, I have long been struck by the disparity between green and red in our society. Green is universally regarded as good- and not just because it starts with the same letter. Red is commonly regarded as bad- and not just because it has the same number of letters.
At its most basic level, green is “go”; and red is “stop”- a proposition accepted nearly everywhere in the world at traffic lights; the concept is reinforced daily at an estimated 89 Million stop signs throughout the US alone.
Green is trees, vegetation and life. Red is blood, fire and the absence of life (see Mars a/k/a “the Red Planet” and the thousands of Egyptians who drowned in the “Red Sea,” according to Exodus).
Green represents healthy food, like salad, broccoli and kale- as in “be sure to eat your greens.” Red represents heart disease and obesity; not only red meat, but it is the predominant color of virtually all of the fast food giants: McDonald’s, Burger King, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut and KFC. (Interesting that Subway, which promotes a healthier menu and uses green as a primary color, has recently eclipsed Big Mac in number of stores worldwide.)
In the sports world, when an Olympic skier or a track star has or beats the fastest time it shows up in green. When an athlete’s time falls short it shows up in red. Green is also a tennis court, where you want to be as soon as possible on a golf course, and a sparkling well-manicured baseball field – a field of dreams.
Red, on the other hand, is Red Square in Moscow – a place that squashes dreams. Indeed, red is closely associated with our country’s biggest enemies: Russia, China, and even North Korea.
In the financial world, when a business earns a profit it is making green. When a company is losing money, and going bankrupt it is said to be “in the red.” Similarly, when a stock has a good day, its numbers are displayed on the ticker tape in green; when the market crashes the television screams red.
Even in school, green is associated with success and red with failure; indeed, red has been hypothesized by some psychologists to impair children’s performances on exams.
With all this psychological baggage, it is surprising to me that anyone whose principal job is to persuade would adopt red as their trademark color. And yet, the Republican party and its followers, largely concentrated in what are now routinely called “Red States,” have done precisely that.
Somehow, it hasn’t hurt them, as Republicans control all powers of government from the Presidency to the Senate to the House of Representatives to the vast majority of State Governorships and State legislatures. No doubt lots of big GREEN money and its disproportionate influence – thanks to the case of Citizens United– along with tolerance for anti-democratic principles of gerrymandering and the electoral college system have played a significant role in this outcome.
But perhaps overlooked is that Democrats have foolishly adopted blue as their color of choice- which for centuries was known as a color reserved for rich people. Indeed, blue paint was so prized back in the day that laws existed limiting the artists who were allowed to use it and what they could use it for (apparently only for things like Jesus’ robe). Blue sounds more than a bit pretentious for the Dems’ traditional base.
Even worse, new studies show that mosquitoes are especially drawn to the color blue- not exactly a ringing endorsement (but good advice when you are picking out clothes for your next summer outing or camping trip)
So, I would suggest that if the Democratic Party wants to make some headway in the balance of power in this country, it would be well-served to switch its party color allegiance to green. It certainly can’t hurt; it would give the party a fresh start, a Spring cleaning if you will, and it just might make more folks GO to the polls.
But better hurry- before the Republicans buy all the the rights to the color Green.
