Owning Colors

Authors

Deborah R. Gerhardt, University of North Carolina School of Law
Jon McClanahan Lee, University of Minnesota Law School

Abstract

Color is powerful. Historically, colors have been invested with mystical, symbolic, and religious significance. We are biologically wired to respond to color cues. A particular color may stimulate emotion, activate memory, and influence perception of the passage of time. Yet the omnipresence of color in our visual world is just the beginning of the story. We have learned to attach many meanings to colors through our lived experiences. Colors have become heuristics for even our abstract ideas. They connect communities. They unite and divide sports fans. They may be shorthand for gender identity, sexual orientation, race, and political identity. Although the ubiquity of color stimulation may be thought to dull sensitivity to it, studies find otherwise. One review of the academic literature asserted that, "People make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. About 62-90% of the assessment is based on colors alone."

Disciplines

Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law | Food and Drug Law | Intellectual Property Law | Law

Recommended Citation

Deborah R. Gerhardt & Jon M. Lee, Owning Colors, 40 Cardozo L. Rev. 2483 (2019).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol40/iss6/2