Color and Sentiment: A Study of Emotion-Based Color Palettes in Marketing

It's widely recognized that the colors used in branding significantly impact how a brand is perceived. This research explores the influence of color in logos on consumer perception and emotional response. We investigate the associations between color usage and emotional responses in food and beverage marketing. Using a dataset of 644 companies, we analyzed the dominant colors in brand logos using k-means clustering to develop distinct color palettes. Concurrently, we extracted customer sentiments and emotions from Google Maps reviews of these companies (n=30,069), categorizing them into five primary emotions: Happiness, Anger, Sadness, Fear, and Surprise. These emotional responses were further categorized into four intensity levels: Low, Medium, Strong, and Very Strong, using a fuzzy sets approach. Our methodology involved correlating specific color palettes with the predominant emotional reactions associated with each brand. By merging the color palettes of companies that elicited similar emotional responses, we identified unique color palettes corresponding to each emotional category. Our findings suggest that among the food companies analyzed, the dominant emotion was Happiness, with no instances of Anger. The colors red and gray were prevalent across all emotional categories, indicating their importance in branding. Specific color-emotion correlations confirmed by our research include associations of yellow with Happiness, blue with Sadness, and bright colors with Surprise. This study highlights the critical role of color in shaping consumer attitudes. The study findings have practical implications for brand designers in the food industry.