What’s in a color? A student at the University of Oregon recruited 118 participants, 60 of whom identified as American and 58 of whom identified as Chinese. Each participant was shown a bottle with a red or blue label on it and then asked if he or she would buy the product and, if yes, for how much.
Steven Smith conducted the study, “One Brand, Two Brands, Red Brands, Blue Brands: A Cross-cultural Analysis of Brand Logo Colors in the United States and China,” for his thesis presented to the Department of Marketing and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon.
The study found that the Chinese participants were more willing than American participants to pay for the blue-marked water bottle, and they were willing to pay 45 percent more for the product. The red bottle showed no significant differences in willingness to buy or price between the two cultures.
Ultimately, this study suggests that “a global brand’s logo color is important and will be rated differently in Chinese and American cultures.” Because each culture has different perceptions of each color, each color has a unique role in creating consumers’ views about the brand.
To read the full text of the study: http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18457