Colors and their impact on trademarks

Colors have an influential psychological impact on the behavior of consumers and the decisions they make before purchasing. This knowledge has controlled the minds of marketing managers and designers alike.

Use of specific colors in the identification of business products is found everywhere, ranging from industrial equipment to food items or pharmaceutical items. Several products are packaged in a vast range of specific colors. For example, Kodak has always packaged its camera rolls in yellow and black boxes, right from their inception, while Fuji has decided to pack their films in green boxes. Other products use a blend of colors with variations in designs. Many laundry detergents tend to sell typically in orange, blue and yellow packaging.

Functionality of color in terms of business promotion and trademarks

The functionality of color and its impact on a business brand or its trademark can be explained with the help of multiple criteria –

Psychological Effects – This could be explained through associations and symbolism. It is functional when the associations of a particular color relate to a specific product in an abstract or a literal way. For example, green is the first color that comes to mind when a company likes to package its organic products. Green always goes with natural and healthy products because of its association with grass, trees and nature itself. Fertilizer companies prefer blue because of its association with nitrogen. Selecting brighter colors will lead the consumers to feel highly energetic and these shades can suggest better reactions and responses. 

Aesthetic Effects – This could be explained through effective and attractive designs. Many combinations of color are considered to create a harmonic effect and they can be described as pleasant to the eye. Yellow and green are considered to exude a harmonious effect. Functional designs and their effect may also involve perception of weight and size. For example, an outboard motor of black color will make the product look smaller than other motors of various different colors.

Visual Effects – They could be explained as bold in text legibility or for the purpose of being eye catching. Our eyes react to different colors in numerous ways. Some colors, by themselves, help in grabbing attention; they are considered as advancing while other are recognized as receding. There are definite color combinations which render many texts easily legible than others. When you discover that your website is an information-intensive one, you will realize that a darker shade of color will make it very easy for readers and browsers to process the web content faster. You cannot deny that all colors appeal to your visual senses as consumers.

Can corporations trademark colors?

The Lanham Act defines trademarks as a `word, a name a symbol or a device or any combination thereof’ that can `distinguish or identify’ goods and services from other sources. Though colors do not get included within such a statutory definition of trademarks, they have now begun to be included as part of products, packages and services and their trademarks. Since 1995, colors do not serve mere utilitarian or a decorative purpose; they are now serving a function of source identification.

Helpful examples of color marks that are protectable include red soles to identify high-heeled dress shoes for women, pink color for fiberglass insulation (Owens-Corning), light blue color for jewelry boxes (Tiffany) and brown for uniforms or parcel delivery vehicles (UPS).

When you come across chocolate candy in purple wrappers, you know instantly that it's Cadbury.

However, Cadbury's selection of purple color is protected for trademark only to the limit of chocolate products. Any other company can use purple color for various other products. For example, Royal Motor Oil uses purple color in marketing its brand.

Life Savers, a candy company, first used multi-color stripes on its wrapper for hard candies. Later, Curtiss Candy Company started introducing their hard candy brand also in a multi-colored striped wrapper. Life Savers sued them. Several businesses have taken concrete steps towards protecting their color identities as a result of the definite impact of colors on business promotion and sales. Life Savers were not successful in forcing an injunction because several colors were involved. The law which prevails today is that a single color may be awarded a trademark protection.

In conclusion, it is safer to say that not many people are aware of the fact that color can, more often than not, be the main reason behind a consumer buying a particular product. A marketing survey on the psychological impact of color on business purchases has revealed that more than 90% of buyers tend to focus on the visual appearance of a product and they claim that color is the primary reason behind the purchase of a given product.