After green and blue, the series Colors in culture is back, at last, with its third installment, dedicated to the diva of the color wheel...
Red doesn't need big introductions.
It's usually the first color people notice, because of its wavelength in the light spectrum, and it is one of the primary colors in both the RGB and the CMYK color models. Without red, there would be not that much you could do with colors, and the scene would look somehow... a little bit dull.
Technicalities aside, red is the most used (and sometimes abused) statement color.
It is associated with bold choices, it doesn't matter if we are talking about fashion, food, seduction, the military world, the symbols of religion worldwide, or... concepts like transgression and good luck.
[Useful thesaurus of Red shades,
with the proper English names,
by Ingrid Sundberg]
You want to get noticed? In most cases, red will do the trick for you.
That's one of the reasons why so many foods, flowers, and toys are red, and why companies like Kellogg's, Coca Cola, Virgin, LEGO, and Pinterest do their best for being an eye-catcher, both online and offline.
Well, my smile's pretty hard to miss, considering I'm a gal who likes her lipstick: the redder the better.
Dolly Parton
Even if the urban legend that Coca Cola "invented" Santa Claus' red look as we know it for marketing reasons related to its brand is... just a legend, red is a color designed to leave a durable impression.
Without further ado, here you can find a list of over 100 different cultural references: emotions, ideas, objects, places, etc. related to red as a color.
1. action
2. activity
3. adventure
4. aggression
5. alarm
6. ambition
7. ambulances (Western countries)
8. anger
9. apples
10. arousal
11. award ribbons
12. blood
13. boldness
14. Boston Red Sox (baseball)
15. Cardinal red
16. cedarwood
17. cherries
18. Christmas
19. clearance
20. Coca Cola red
21. communism
22. communist parties around the world
23. confidence
24. courage (Western countries)
25. crimson lake
26. danger
27. devil
[A bright red bikini and... the famous red apple:
Liz Hurley as the Devil
in Bedazzled (2000) by Harold Ramis]
28. Dorothy's shoes from The Wizard of Oz
29. embarrassment
30. energy
31. excitement
32. female energy (primitive cultures)
33. Ferrari red
34. fire
35. fire extinguisher
36. fitness
37. foxes
38. ginger hair
39. good fortune (Asia)
40. happiness (Asia)
41. heart
42. heat
43. hell (Christian church)
44. hematite
45. henna
46. holiness (Christian church)
47. iron
48. jam
49. Jessica Rabbit
50. joy
51. Katharine Hepburn’s hair
52. ketchup
53. ladybugs
[The traditional red paper lanterns very popular in China
can symbolize prosperity, good fortune, joyful celebrations,
and keep evil away. Talking about multitasking...
Image credit: ISO Republic]
54. lanterns
55. lips
56. lipstick
57. love
58. Lucille Ball’s hair
59. lust
60. mahogany wood
61. male energy (Ancient Greece)
62. Mars, aka the Red Planet
63. martyrdom (Christian church)
64. matador’s cape
65. meat, as in red meat
66. Muladhara, the root chakra (first chakra of the tantra tradition)
67. nails
68. ochre
69. Opera (browser)
70. opera (music)
71. oranges
72. pain
73. paprika
74. passion
75. penalty cards
76. Phrygian cap (French Revolution)
77. pill, as in The Matrix
78. political activism
79. political fight
80. pornography
81. power
82. pre-nuptial female look (Eastern countries)
83. prosperity
84. prostitution
85. queens (cards)
86. rage
87. rebellion
88. red agate (stone)
89. red air balloons
90. Red Army (Chinese People’s Red Army)
91. Red Army (The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, USSR)
92. red beets
93. red berries
94. red cabbages
95. red carpet
96. red carpet dress/look
[A red carpet dress doesn't have to be red at all costs...
But this elegantly red gown by Dior Haute Couture
that Dame Helen Mirren rocket at the 2020 Golden Globes...
is the epitome of a great red carpet dress]
97. Red Cross (International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement)
98. red curry
99. Red Dot Design Award
100. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
101. red flags, as in bad signs
102. red gold
103. red herring
104. Red Hot Chili Peppers (music group)
105. red ink
106. red kidney beans
107. red kite (bird)
108. red koalas
109. red labels
110. red lentils
111. red lines
112. Red Man Syndrome (RMS)
113. Red Nose Day (charity)
114. red oak
115. red octopus
116. red onions
117. red pandas
118. red pesto
119. red quartz
120. red quinoa
121. Red Riding Hood (fairytales)
122. Red River of South in the US
123. Red Skelton, aka Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton [1913-1997]
124. Red Skin Syndrome (TSW)
125. red tape (bureaucracy)
126. red tea (roiboos)
127. red traffic lights
128. Red Velvet (music group)
129. red zone (football)
130. red-light districts
131. risk
132. Rita Hayworth’s hair
133. roses
134. rouge
135. rubies
136. sacrifice
137. sales
138. Sangria
139. Santa Claus (starting in the 20th century)
140. seduction
141. sex
142. sin
143. solidarity to HIV victims
144. speed
145. STOP signs
146. strawberries
[From The Red Shoes to The Wizard of Oz,
from Oz the Great and Powerful to Wild at Heart...
red shoes are a special symbol.
My personal version of it?
These ones from Irregular Choice]
147. strength
148. The Hunt for Red October (1990) by John McTiernan
149. the Red Baron, aka Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen [1892-1918]
150. the Red Queen from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
151. the Red Sea between Asia and Africa
152. The Red Shoes (1948) by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
153. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
154. Theater drapes and stage curtains
155. Titian red (actually, Tiziano red)
156. tomato juice
157. tomatoes
158. torture
159. transgression
160. uniforms
161. urgency
162. Valentino red
163. violence
164. war (Ancient Greece)
165. warning
166. wedding (China, Ancient Rome)
167. willpower
168. wine
169. youthfulness
What is missing, in your opinion?
Feel free to drop me a line and to let me know.
PS. This one is dedicated to Bryn.
Tags: Colors, Intercultural communication, Color symbolism, Color psychology, Red, Seduction, Quotes
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