Using the color pink to recruit women and girls – should we?
My answer is a resounding yes! It works; research shows that females prefer pink–REALLY. So if you have the opportunity to run flyers in pink or use pink as part of a poster’s color scheme–GO FOR IT. Women and girls identify with the color pink. According to Wikipedia, “The color pink is often used to represent women or young girls.” The Boston Red Sox successfully used the color pink to increase sales of clothing to women coming to their baseball games. Pink baseball hats are the second best-selling color at the souvenir store. The pink ribbon is the international symbol of breast cancer awareness. Pink was chosen partially because it is so strongly associated with femininity (see Wikipedia article).
In 2007, Anya Hurlbert and Yazhu Ling, neuroscientists at Newcastle University conducted a color-selection experiment with 208 volunteers between the ages of 20 and 26. On average, the study found, all people generally prefer blue, something researchers have long known. The study also found that while both men and women liked blue, women tended to pick redder shades of blue—reddish-purple hues—while men preferred blue-green.
Personally I love the color pink as you can probably tell from what I’m wearing in my photos. However, using the color pink to recruit is not a personal preference; it’s based on hard data. Have you used the color pink to recruit?
One Response to “Using the color pink to recruit women and girls – should we?”
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Dawn Korade on March 2nd, 2010
I don’t mind pink if it’s a baby animal. Otherwise,it will forever represent all the things I was not allowed to do because of my gender. It’s the color of my repression. No shop classes, no working with my Dad in his machine shop doing prototyping, no learning to mow the lawn or work on my own cars at home – all because I was ,’pink’. I forgave my parents for giving me a pink bicycle. I knew how hard it was for them to get me one at all. But, I was ecstatic when my older brother painted it candy apple red for me. I do not wear pink, buy pink, or decorate pink. (We call it lightish-red in my house, but that’s not because of me)
Does this mean we should not use pink? NO. We Should use pink. I suspect it makes girls feel less in competition with the boys. The girls are on their own turf when it’s pink.