The Road less Traveled

Color of the day: RED
An interesting thing about the color red, we seem to use the color a lot.

Mainly, we use the color red to warn of danger. A stop sign for example
is in red to warn of an intersection.

A wrong way sign tells us we are in error.

But given this assignment, I realized a subtle use for the color red.

Many of our favorite fast food restaurants use red as the primary color
in their signs.

These are just a few examples of the signs that I’ve found.
Others not pictures here are Bob Evans, Pizza Hut, Rally’s, Dairy Queen, Red Lobster has red
right in the name, Steak and Shake has their name in red on their buildings.
Other non-food businesses include, Meijer, Target, Kmart, Coke, and Marsh.
Why do you suppose so many businesses use red?
Maybe it’s hardwired into us that red is something to be noticed.
As prehistoric gatherers, maybe we were inclined to look for red as a sign
of food, ripe fruit a matter of survival. I’m not sure; just my theory.
I believe that we’ve so over used the color red, that some of our
emergency response vehicles have changes colors away from red to be more
recognized.

Red is also a regal color. Look at these pictures:

It’s just a chair and a couch, but add the color red to it and it looks so much statelier.

Maybe I’ll try wearing a red shirt at my next business meeting and see what response I get.

We certainly like our cars red.

Have you noticed how many of them are out there on the road these days? Maybe we think we’re more visible in one and thus catch the attention of the other drivers and then are less likely to be in an accident. But then along these lines, are nicer red cars also catching the attention of car thieves as well, and making us a target for crime?

And how can we have a discussion about the color red in the Midwest without including a red barn.