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You’ll Probably Think I’m a Bit Obsessed with This…
…and you’d be right. In the last podcast, we were discussing the Super Bowl and the ads, and I noted that there was a similar hue to many of the ads, and it’s driving me nuts. Once you see it, it’s everywhere. Peter and Rob were amused by my concern, and I suppose there’s really nothing to it.
It’s just odd. It’s just damned odd. You will probably think I’m daft. But.
This is a frame from a Verizon commercial. See the bins in the back? The chair? That’s the sort of hue we’re describing.
Now we pull out to the house. Why are two windows sporting this color? And the door? And the reflections in the garage glass?
It’s nothing you notice, unless maybe the commercial next is for the Air Jordan movie coming up.
Or the Batman movie.
Or a Benz commercial. This is supposed to take place in the pre-dawn hour. Yes, that’s just what light looks like at that time.
The Creed movie:
Cloudstrike did an ad about a Trojan horse, and painted individual boards in the hallowed hue, as well as the logo on the horse.
Doritos starts mild, with just some clothing items . . .
But soaks the whole set in the hue soon enough.
Dragons and Dungeons movie:
Dr. Pepper commercial:
Farmer’s Dog, blanket, and rug:
Geico loved it a lot for this ad. Living room . . .
Kitchen. Glass in the cupboards – you see that a lot in realtor photos, no? No? And some light versions in the clothing . . .
Back to the living room . . .
…and upstairs, where the hue is on the lamp, the bathrobe, and leaking from the left.
Will Farrell did a commercial about something.
Guardians of the Galaxy are here to save us from something, but not the hallowed hue:
Intuit will do your taxes, but make sure your mug conforms:
Steve Martin is acting! I don’t remember what the ad’s for . . .
…but in the next shot, he has a piece of paper that’s very useful in normal life, you see that all the time. Nice that it matches the ceiling! And the computer monitor. And the little square back on the right.
NFL commercial runs us through a mall, which of course looks like a normal place:
A trailer for the movie “Oppenheimer” looks ultra-realistic:
Priceline gives us a cheery version of the hue. Did they overdo it? Heck no! We love that color!
A company that handles your résumé starts out in an airport, which again has totally normal sunlight streaming in the window…
Same company, where the dentist’s chair naturally matches the poster…
Here’s Mom in a store, handing out her son’s résumé.
Sam Adams: “We want a color that really makes you think ‘Beer!'”
Sam Adams again. I’m parched just looking at it.
When you think Snickers, of course, this is the color that snaps instantly to mind:
Tubi is a new streaming service. It starts with this scene…
…and then moves behind the young lady. Completely normal nighttime light.
Tum-tum-tum-tum: Again, totally normal airport.
Weathertech makes floor mats. We start here…
…move to the home office, where totally natural sunlight floods the room…
…then we head to the factory floor.
Amazon had a heart-tugging commercial about a dog, and it showed the living room.
Everyone’s ordering online at night – a warm, cozy family moment, no?
At least there’s some sunlight here, even though the chair and lamp are — well, you know.
Dad’s cooking! He puts on the proper-color shirt and makes sure he’s got the proper-color pot:
Later, he drives home in the rain with a dog kennel, which I’m sure can be found in this color from a variety of sellers, and the light outside is totally normal
Oreos — well, they don’t care. Here it is. Make of it what you will.
I don’t see how calming colors achieve that either.
“Relax and let us decide what you need. You don’t need to bother your pretty head about it. Here, watch this turquoise TV program while we take care of you.”
But in that case they don’t need to run ads that cost them millions, for products that the viewers won’t actually be buying.
It’s groupthink, it’s fashionability, but it’s also something that’s come up before in Ricochet analysis: things like car designs (for example) tend towards becoming standardized as fewer and fewer new shapes are found that get great results in the wind tunnel.
In this case, consistent consumer preference for certain colors on TV has narrowed things down to the point where even the sameness is looking the same. The metaphorical algorithm of color is working as designed and it’s making everything boring.
At a certain point, ad agencies will break things up, and once again find eye-catching new combinations of shades. In eighteen months, that becomes the new style, and in another eighteen months, a conformist cliche. Then the cycle starts again.
It depends on how they gauge consumer preferences. What people say they like and what works might not be the same thing.
This stuff really works. There’s a store in Dallas called Boot Town where I could have given you details for years after I left there.
David Fincher has used a similar palette, and others, to good effect. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/movie-color-palette-david-fincher/
Boot Town, Boot Town, That’s Our Name! B-o-o-t-Town!
I don’t watch much TV, but I find this particular blue to be an odd combination of boring, depressing and annoying. I would tend to actively ignore and avoid products and communications that use this color.
My goodness. The computer lab in the Illini Union was full of these from 98-01. I had not seen one except sitting disused in backrooms of office buildings since then.
That “hue” reminds Me of this immediately:
Blue is this year’s “with it” appliance color. Also the with it interior wall color – replaces York Grey.
A ways up the road is Albuquerque. The big mountain range to the east is called Sandia, or watermelon. At the right time, just before sunset, the range lights up in beautiful reds and purples. Not this weird blue.
Russians don’t know nuffin.
… over-priced roadside jewelry …
Minnesota winter finally getting to you, James?
TL:DR.
Oh wait!
Seriously though:
and
(Who am I kidding. I can’t be serious about this.)
Apple slices with swiss cheese planks are way better ;>)
For you maybe, not for me; I refuse to rent software or money so I’ll keep on using the software that has worked for me and paying cash (alright using the card for convenience but paying the bill when it comes in, same thing) whether Davos likes it or not. We’ve always lived by this rule: never, ever borrow money for consumables, wait, save and get the non-financed discount.
Perhaps it is a rejection, for now, of the colors dominating the 2017 Womens March.
Many articles I have read on sleep tell you to avoid light at the blue end of the spectrum, such as is found on most video screens, before going to bed. Supposedly it gives the brain a signal to wake up. Can’t have people going to sleep while we are trying to sell them something.
Dystopian hues, a sameness, a subtle message of You live in a video game.
We will be required to wear invisible t-shirts that say, “We are all different…in the same way.”
Or it’s just post-post-modern aesthetics created in post.
There was a commercial in the 1970s for a company with an 800 number jingle. Couldn’t tell you the company anymore, but I still remember the number: “eight 0h oh, three two five, three five, three five”
And a car dealership “Come on in to eleven oh eleven, west north avenue.”
Sheraton Hotels (800) 325-3535
From my childhood, I remember “Ding-a-ling-a-ling give Roth a ring. EMerson two-two-eight-oh-oh”
Isn’t it obvious? There must be a mind-altering message embedded in the color. Quick! Look away! Oh no, it’s too late.
Reminds me of this.
Industrial Psychologists have identified a color for each subject and action, the color that induces every human to think of that subject and that action. Turquoise evokes the subject “Potty” and the action “Go”.
We had a real estate agent, Vera, come through and report on the highest-return upgrades that we could make, in order to turn the old place into a hot ticket–the gearest property out there, the cat’s pajamas–if we decided to sell into the current market.
Vera said that the boomerang-patterned turquoise and pink Formica in the kitchen was the first thing that had to go.
I was bemused. (Remember: That word means “confused“. I do not think that word means what you think it means until you stop and try to remember what we both discovered that it does mean, back in 2009 or so.)
“Why?” I inquired, bemused.
“It is a bit dated”, Vera replied. Kate said nothing. She just gave me that “What have I been saying since we moved in, Camper?” look.
And the colors you reject are a generation marker. Boomers are averse to Harvest Gold and Avocado. Millennials despise teal and pink.
Gender neutral?
One can knit a sweater in aqua for a non-binary Theyby…?