Color usage in international business-to-business print advertising

The use of appropriate color in international business-to-business advertis ements can profoundly impact the success of an advertised product. This stu dy compares the usage of colors ill business advertisements in France, rite United States, and Venezuela. The findings conclude that Venezuelan ads us e significantly more red orange, and green colors, while advertisements fro m France and the U.S. use higher proportions of black and brown colors. The U.S, also utilizes significantly more black-and-white ads than either Fran ce or Venezuela. These findings differ-from prior theories of color prefere nces, indicating that cultural meanings may influence business color select ions for advertisements. Managerial implications for color usage in adverti sing across national boundaries are discussed and suggestions for future re search are provided. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.