The optical illusion is the favourite trick for the producers who do their best to fool the consumers. To delude them, at least, say the Norwegian researchers in their publication in the Journal of Consumers Research.
The study was conducted by Henrik Hagtvedt and his colleague Adam Brasel at Boston College in the United States. Hagtvedt studied art history at the University of Oslo, now he studies the use of colours in marketing – enormously interesting subject.
“Colours affect us more than most people realize,” he said and added that the saturated colours raise awareness. Colour plays games with our perception and makes us draw wrong conclusions. The producers know that very well, the optical illusion is one of the most powerful weapons in the fight for customer’s attention and loyaly.
Colours in marketing make customer do strange thindgs
Hagtvedt and his colleague have been able to document that deeper, more saturated colours arouse our interest. They used eye-tracking measurements, where they recorded how fast and how long people’s eyes focus on objects of different colours.
Retailers are always looking for ways to convince consumers to buy more. A new study shows just how easy it can be to use colour to affect our purchasing choices.
A little extra colouring, for example, makes us think that an orange suitcase with a stronger colour is more spacious than one that is light orange, even though the suitcases are the same size.
“The strength of a colour is an effective marketing tool,”
says one of the researchers behind the study. He also points out that consumers who want products that take up less space prefer lighter colours because they think the products are smaller.
