McDonald’s and Burger King are fast food companies. They have something in common. Can you spot it？

Well， besides all being fast food chains， their logos are all red. And it’s not a coincidence. Color is one of the many tactics companies use to connect with customers. And if swearing off fast food wasn’t hard enough， those colorful red logos might make it even harder to ignore.

Fast food companies all use the color red heavily in their logos， why？ The answer goes back to thousands of years ago.

The average human can see ten million colors， but red is special. It turns out that it’s one of the first colors our ancient ancestors thought important enough to name. Back before alphabets and writing， early human languages were surprisingly monotonous. There were words only for “black” “white” and “red”. In fact， blue didn’t show up until thousands of years later in 200 AD.

As a result， we have a deeper connection to red than any other color on the spectrum and we react to it in certain ways that actually play to fast food companies’ advantage. Researchers have found that red can evoke a sense of urgency. On top of that， it also has an innate ability to whet our appetites. And when you pair those two together you’ve got the perfect recipe to attract hungry customers who want food fast.

麥當(dāng)勞、漢堡王這些快餐公司有一個(gè)共同點(diǎn)，你注意到了嗎？

除了都是快餐連鎖店，它們的標(biāo)志都是大紅色的。這可不是巧合。顏色是企業(yè)用來(lái)和消費(fèi)者建立聯(lián)系的多種策略之一。如果說(shuō)，戒掉快餐很難，那么想要忽略這些鮮艷的紅色標(biāo)志就更難了。

快餐公司都喜歡在標(biāo)志上使用大面積的紅色，為什么呢？答案要追溯到幾千年前了。

普通人能看見(jiàn)1000萬(wàn)種顏色，但紅色是很特別的。原來(lái)，祖先們命名的第一批重要顏色中就有紅色。在字母和書寫出現(xiàn)之前，早期人類語(yǔ)言“色彩單調(diào)”得令人驚詫。表示顏色的詞只有“黑”“白”和“紅”。事實(shí)上，直到幾千年后，在公元200年才出現(xiàn)了表示“藍(lán)”的詞匯。

因此，相較于色譜中的其他顏色，人類和紅色有著更深層次的聯(lián)系，而我們對(duì)紅色的反應(yīng)恰好能夠?yàn)榭觳凸舅?。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，紅色會(huì)引起緊迫感。除此之外，紅色還會(huì)刺激食欲。把兩者結(jié)合，你便擁有了完美配方來(lái)吸引快餐公司的理想客戶——饑腸轆轆、希望迅速得到食物的顧客。

So that red logo isn’t just a welcoming sign; it’s a sly seduction for your brain. Now， it’s unclear why red makes us feel this way. But perhaps it has something to do with where the word comes from. Many ancient languages， including Hebrew and from tribes of New Guinea， first named “red” from their word for “blood”.

But red’s meaning has transformed over millennia. During medieval times， for example， red was worn by royals as a status symbol. And today， brides in many parts of India are married in red dress.

In fact， red is one of the few colors today that cultures all over the world view positively. And it’s no wonder companies dedicate so much thought to their logos. After all， we’re a visual species. Despite having five senses， 80% of the information our brains process on a daily basis comes from our eyes.

And according to marketing company WebpageFX， nearly 85% of consumers say the main reason they choose one product over the other is color. Another 80% said that colors are what give brands that memorable stamp of recognition.

Just think what McDonald’s would look like in blue， green， or pink！ It’s just not the same， right？

所以，紅色標(biāo)志不只是表示歡迎，它還在悄悄誘惑著你的大腦。目前，我們尚不清楚為什么紅色會(huì)讓我們產(chǎn)生這種感受，但它也許和詞匯來(lái)源有關(guān)。許多古老的語(yǔ)言，包括希伯來(lái)語(yǔ)和新幾內(nèi)亞部落語(yǔ)言，“紅”的詞源是“血”。

但是幾千年來(lái)，紅色的含義發(fā)生了變化。舉例而言：在中世紀(jì)時(shí)期，貴族穿戴紅色作為自己地位的象征。如今，在印度的許多地區(qū)，新娘結(jié)婚時(shí)都身穿紅裙。

事實(shí)上，紅色是現(xiàn)代少數(shù)幾種被世界上各種文化視為積極的顏色之一。難怪這些公司在企業(yè)標(biāo)志上花了這么多心思。畢竟，我們都是視覺(jué)動(dòng)物。盡管人類擁有五種感官，但大腦每日處理的信息有80%都來(lái)源于我們的雙眼。

根據(jù)營(yíng)銷公司W(wǎng)ebpageFX的調(diào)查，近85%的消費(fèi)者表示他們?cè)趦煞N相似產(chǎn)品中做出選擇的主要原因是顏色。還有80%的消費(fèi)者表示品牌標(biāo)志最讓人印象深刻的是顏色。

試想一下，如果麥當(dāng)勞的標(biāo)志變成藍(lán)色、綠色或粉色，那感覺(jué)可就大不一樣了，對(duì)嗎？

Word Study

tactic /'t?kt?k/ n. 策略;手段;招數(shù)

They tried all kinds of tactics to get us to go.

swear off? 下決心不做……;停用……

innate /?'ne?t/ adj. 天生的;先天的;與生俱來(lái)的

You obviously have an innate talent for music.

whet /wet/ v. 刺激……的欲望;增強(qiáng)……的興趣