McDonald's Colors Decoded

5 replies
I know a lot of people have a hard time with colors, I am just going to explain exactly WHY McDonald's colors have worked so well for them. Of course I am also shameless. . . I am just finishing off an 8 CD course all about colors. Okay, here we go.


Yellow = Sun, Life, Energy, Friendly, Innovative etc. . .
Red = Is a color that stimulates the adrenaline glands in the brain. they chose red for this specific purpose. There are other reasons they chose the red, BUT the major one is the chemicals it creates in the brain.

Now ask yourself this, WHO does Mcdonald's market to? Apes? Dogs? Adults? Children? They have built their empire on directing ads at kids. In fact, those little toys they hand out have done well for them. Enough about that though.

What colors do children respond to? PRIMARY COLORS. So there we have the red. PLUS, adults respond to red as well. (The adult is the action taker) Who has the money to pay for little Johnny's lunch? So of course, they need to focus on mom or dad in the process. RED is a call to action, AND it also stimulates the appetite.

Now the yellow. Why yellow? Yellow represents MANY things, it all depends on the message being sent, the product and the actual yellow itself. In this case, the message is FRIENDLY. At least one of them anyway. Are they friendly in Mcdonalds? Yes, they are. See my point?

Now let's move onto the clown. He just screams out so many messages.

Red hair. Red stripes and red shoes. Knowing that red can represent energy, exciting and courageous, well you see what I am getting at. The color red was chosen for the clown very carefully. Now what does Ronald do? I want to really make my point here. HE HAS LOTS of energy. He is also very excited, AND he portrays joy. (Yellow can also represent joy) Do you see what I am getting at?

Now why would he wear yellow? In this case it is because he is friendly, and whose friend is he? The children's. . .

Yellow can also mean caution, and red can be related to sex or war. It does not matter. It is the message that you want to send and how it relates to your product. This is an example of a company that chose their colors very carefully so that they could send a message, and it has worked out well for them. Colors are processed on a subliminal level.

Hope you enjoyed that. Just please keep in mind that the colors you choose for your site send a message. You can increase your sales by sending out the correct color message.

Let me ask you a question, the pretty flower gets the bee, right? Use the wrong colors on your site, or just go and borrow someone else's colors because you like them and the results will show. Now, I know a lot of people are making sales with poor color schemes. The point is, if your color scheme is well thought out and chosen correctly, YOU WILL MAKE MORE SALES. I have seen this over and over. The prospect will hang around longer if the colors are attractive and send the correct message.

Don't forget. The color is the message. For anyone who does not believe in all this, look at the packaging in the stores, look at the colors BIG companies use. Screw your colors up, or use the wrong ones in the wrong place. . . and.. well you get the point.
Have a GREAT DAY. Questions? Need help with your colors? PM me.
#colors #decoded #mcdonald
  • Profile picture of the author pavondunbar
    Wow...

    Umm...

    Great post about McDonald's colors...

    You really went in depth to explain why Mikki D chose the yellow and red...

    And all this time I thought it was because the Happy Meals and the toy inside kicked ass (by the way, I still order Happy Meals to this very day...for me...true story...)

    Seriously, though...

    I like your thread.

    Pavon
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  • Profile picture of the author andrewharrison
    Thanks, I see so many people just choosing colors because they "LOOK GOOD" it's the wrong approach. Look at Wal-Mart. That smiling yellow happy face and the blue. . . Uh Oh, here I go. Yellow = Joyful Friend(ly). The blue of course is for energy and impressive. Now let's link them all up.

    We have a joyful friend (yellow) with lots of energy (blue) who slashes prices and that's impressive. (The staff wear blue, just in case you are wondering.) So, who is your friend? It all translates into the employee who slashes prices and smiles as he/she does it. The message is impressive to say the least.

    Regards
    Andrew
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    GET THE POWER, Take Control before YOUR COMPETITION DOES. (Site Contains Content Of A Graphic Nature) http://www.internetmarketinginsimpleterms.com
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  • Profile picture of the author artwebster
    Let me ask you a question, the pretty flower gets the bee, right?

    Actually, wrong!
    The flower that gets the bee sends out olfactory messages and uses colours in the ultra and infra bands which humans cannot see to indicate the site of the pollen . Most grass flowers and oak & pine flowers are insignificant and green but they are very popular with both bees and wasps, for example.

    If you believe that the two most strident primary colours were chosen by McD as the result of certain navel gazing exercises, I have no problem with that - but why are these two colours also on traffic lights?

    Oh. Yes. You did mention that - they can mean something else altogether. Convenient.
    Signature

    You might not like what I say - but I believe it.
    Build it, make money, then build some more
    Some old school smarts would help - and here's to Rob Toth for his help. Bloody good stuff, even the freebies!

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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
    Geez, I always thought it represented the mustard and ketchup I was about to put on my food.

    I know that Schneider Trucking not only got some nice branding going when they adopted the safety orange but it reduced their accident rates significantly thereby reducing some huge costs.

    Marlon Sanders had a special report about colors and niches that he gave out when he was launching his Design Dashboard product.

    I found his report to be very interesting and after reading it I started seeing what he was talking about in practice all over the Internet.

    We naturally associate some color schemes with certain professions like blue and green with the medical industry and purples and blues with spirituality.


    p.s. Speaking of Marlon, have you seen his opt-in "thank you page" ?
    Instead of just a page you get Marlon walking out onto the page and telling you how to confirm your subscription.

    Wonder what his conversion rates are for that one.
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