A survey in multiple countries by YouGov revealed that ‘blue’ is the world’s favourite colour: it was the preferred colour in 10 countries across 4 continents, including China!
You Favourite Colour?
At some point in our live, all of us will have answered the question: What is your favourite colour ?
Actually, it is one of the earliest questions children are being taught to answer. It has been shown, that colour influences our moods, eating habits and even who we date.
Colour & Our Senses
Studies by Goethe (2013), Kandinsky (2000), and Farina (1986) show attempts at translating colours into sensations: they attempt to describe the psychological effects of colours on people.
In perfumery, the link between fragrance and colour has frequently been demonstrated. Here are some examples:
- “THE INFLUENCE OF COLOR IN FRAGRANCE PERCEPTION” was studied by Camila Assis Peres Silva and Clice Sanjar Mazzilli from University of São Paulo.
- “Cross-Cultural Colour-Odour Associations” were investigated by Carmel A. Levitan , Jiana Ren, Andy T. Woods and Sanne Boesveldt.
- “Visualising fragrances through colours: The mediating role of emotions” by Hendrik N J Schifferstein and Inge Tanudjaja.
Colour is also closely linked to national and political identities in multiple countries.
Blue Is The Winner
With colour having such a strong and varied influence in our lives, it comes as a surprise that a new survey by YouGov, conducted in 10 countries across four continents, highlights that a single colour – blue – is the most popular across all regions. Between 23% (in Indonesia) and 33% (in Great Britain) prefer the colour ‘blue’ over all the colours listed, putting it 8-18 percentage points ahead of the next favourite colour.
The second-most popular colour varies a little bit more from country-to-cournty, although it is always one of three other options:
- green (second in Thailand, China and the United States),
- red (in Indonesia, Singapore, Germany and Britain), or
- purple (in Hong Kong).
- In Malaysia and Australia red and purple tied for second.
‘Blue’ even wins in a place like China, where colours like red, yellow and green are considered to be auspicious and the traditional symbol of ‘good luck’. Considering that is also the colour of the national flag, the result that blue is by far the most popular choice, is even more surprising.
These results confirm a previous study by Dulux, the paint manufacturer, in 30 countries. The figures vary, but blue remains the favourite color: 42% for men , with 30% for women . Blue is also considered the ‘color which displeases the least’.
Colour & Demographics
These preference also consistently filter through the different demographic groups within the countries surveyed.
Although blue tends to be more popular with men than women (in the US, the split was 40% to 24%; in Great Britain it was 40% to 27%), women still pick blue more often than any other colour.
Not surprisingly, ‘Pink’ was much more popular with women than men, but even among women it was preferred by only around 10-13% and was not usually any more popular than red, purple or green.
Blue is also the winner across age groups and, in the United States, where respondents are broken down into racial subgroups, blue is preferred by roughly equal numbers of whites (30%), blacks (35%) and Hispanics (35%).
Perhaps more surprisingly for a country often described as a collection of red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) states, US Democrats and Republicans are about as likely as each other to prefer blue (33% for Democrats and 29% for Republicans). However, 17% of Republicans like red – twice the number of Democrats who do (8%).
These surveys were carried out by YouGov UK, YouGov Germany, YouGov America and YouGov Asia Pacific.
A similar result came out of a study by Color Matters:
- blue is the favourite color of 57% of men, followed by green and then black,
- 35% of women prefer blue, followed by purple and green.
The Colour Blue In Perfumery
With blue being preferred by consumers, it is no coincidence that many successful perfumes are build around this colour. But what is the fragrance of blue? Indeed, very few food items are blue (with the exception of blueberries).
L’Heure Bleue by Guerlain, Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel Bleu, Polo Blue: the word ‘blue’ word is used by several perfume brands and it seems they have been successful with it.
In the case of Angel by Thierry Mugler, its blue juice caused shock waves in 1992, especially for a gourmand note. Since Angel though, blue is perfectly acceptable for a feminine fragrance, including a sweet accord, but the colour blue is still predominantly used in men’s fragrances.
When comparing L’Heure Bleue, an oriental powdery creation, Bleu de Chanel, a woody aromatic fragrance, we can see that the association of a colour with a perfume is still subjective.
Olfactively, blue masculinity tends to come in one of two types of notes:
- a cool or luminous blue is typically associated with aquatic or sky / aerial notes, and
- the cold blue, which tends to use oils such as menthol, rosemary, eucalyptol …
A Blue Room Fragrance?
With ‘blue’ being so popular around the world, we can confirm here at PAIRFUM, that our ‘blue’ room fragrance SPA, is one of our best-selling fragrances.
Here is its olfactive description:
a tangy, effervescent top note of bergamot, mandarin, rosemary, lavender and fresh violet leaves, radiates from heart of  salty aquatic notes, with aerial and translucent flowers (lily of the valley, jasmine). The fond is layered with vibrant woody (cedar, patchouli), ambery and mossy accords (oakmoss).
To add a splash of blue to your home, you can use SPA in any of our luxury scented candles or natural reed diffusers:
- Reed Diffusers (petite, classic, large) in various shape decanters (bell, cube or tower)
- Reed Diffuser refill oil
- Snow Crystal Candles (classic, large and tin)
- Flower Wax Candle
- Message Candle
- Hand Wash & Oil
- Hand Lotion
- Body Wash & Oil
- Body Lotion
A Final Contradiction?
It is not surprising that ‘blue’, the World’s Favourite Colour, is such a prominent colour in our clothes and fashion.
On the other hand, it does seem to be a colour used sparingly in our homes interiors and exteriors.
The human race around the world seems to enjoy wearing ‘blue jeans’, a splash of a ‘blue cologne’ or releasing the room fragrance of a blue reed diffuser.
However, are we overly keen on painting our walls blue, sleeping in blue sheets or walking on blue carpets?
And so it seems that ‘blue’ is the world’s favourite colour, but subject to terms & conditions.
Where does ‘Blue’ rank amongst your colour preferences?
