“So, James, this is what I’m thinking,” begins Jane enthusiastically, “let’s do the foyer in Meadow Mist and then the living and dining areas in the Crème Caramel. The kitchen would look great in Sun Kisses and then we could do our bedroom in Gossamer Wings with a bold feature wall behind the bed in the Purple Princess! What do you think?”
James stares blankly into space like many men do when confronted with a collection of paint chips, fabric swatches and a hyperventilating spouse!
“OK,” says Jane with a begrudging sigh, “let’s try this again ... how about we paint the entrance in pale Pond Scum and do the living and dining rooms in Beer Foam. We could then paint the kitchen Boston Bruin Gold and the bedroom in Dead Wolf with a Road Rash accent wall. How does that sound?”
“Perfect!” exclaims James.
This little story proves, yet again, the importance of a name and while the male of the species will rarely respond to Wistful Willow, you’re sure to get his attention with Combat Olive. Perhaps the solution would be to have ‘bilingual’ paint sample books with her colour names on one side and his on the other!
I have always believed that our response to colours comes from a more primal place but, understanding the marketing machine as I do, I have also come to realize that if you change a label, you change the response. Think of New Zealand’s now famous export, the Kiwi fruit; originally named ‘Chinese Gooseberry’, it didn’t catch on but once it adopted its ‘Kiwi fruit’ moniker, it became exportable and trendy.
As we embark upon another New Year we are all eagerly awaiting Pantone’s announcement re: the
2012 Colour of the Year, right? Well—like it or not—this year’s lucky winner is Tangerine Tango! 2011 was Honeysuckle which wasn’t too far removed from Pepto Bismol, and the year before—my favourite colour year to date—was Turquoise which men could relate to as Tropical Shipwreck.
Any ideas how to translate TangerineTango into male-speak?
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