Color Psychology in the Context of Advertising

Mariam Ibrahim, Verrazzano Class of 2025, completed major in Business Marketing   

My capstone project explores how colors affect consumer emotions, perceptions, and decision-making, and how businesses use these effects in their marketing strategies. This topic brings together ideas from psychology, branding, and culture to better understand how something as simple as a color choice can shape a brand’s identity and influence buyer behavior.

I first became interested in this area through my MKT 211 class where we had to do a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of Budweiser. My role in this group project was so analyze the brand’s most recent add, analyzing the color psychology of the brand’s newest item and what each color represented, and give suggestions to the brand on how they could improve their advertising campaigns.

As someone who also runs a small online makeup resale business, I’ve always paid attention to product packaging and branding, especially how certain colors grab attention or suggest particular qualities like luxury, freshness, or eco-friendliness. That curiosity led me to research deeper theories behind color usage in advertising.

Going into the capstone, I expected the process to feel like an extension of my usual class research, but more in-depth. In reality, it was much more immersive than I imagined. One of the most challenging parts was finding accessible and reliable academic resources. Many scholarly articles were behind paywalls, so I had to spend time searching for open-access versions or request help from my professors and library resources. The literature review and theoretical foundation section also required a lot of discipline because it involved connecting abstract theories, like associative learning or semiotics, to practical marketing examples.

The easiest part was visualizing the ideas for my research poster. Since color is such a visual topic, creating the layout felt natural. I enjoyed transforming dense research into something engaging and visually appealing for a broader audience. I was also pleasantly surprised by how many everyday examples I could pull from—like Coca-Cola’s use of red or Facebook’s blue, to show color’s power in real life.

Overall, this journey has confirmed my passion for branding and advertising. I now feel more confident in analyzing why brands make the visual choices they do, and I’m excited to continue exploring how marketing can tap into our subconscious perceptions in meaningful and ethical ways.