My daughter once won the annual children’s Halloween
window-painting contest sponsored by Main Street merchants in our town of
Ridgefield, CT. What made hers such a stellar achievement was that the shopkeepers
prohibited the kids from using black paint lest their windows crack from the
sunlight absorbed by black.
Think about it. Halloween – a candy-crammed orgy of orange
and black -- without the black.
About the same time my daughter was trying to figure out how to paint without black, I was trying to figure out how to do my job at IBM – “Big Blue” as the company is often called because of its distinctive blue logo -- without using the color red.
About the same time my daughter was trying to figure out how to paint without black, I was trying to figure out how to do my job at IBM – “Big Blue” as the company is often called because of its distinctive blue logo -- without using the color red.
Our CEO hated the color. His standing order: “No red!” He had banished one of the primary colors.
At that time, IBM had many divisions, operating units and
subsidiary corporations, and most conducted annual recognition events for top
performers. The aim was to motivate the sales force while giving executives the
chance to size up high-potential performers in a one-on-one environment away
from the office.
I was responsible for creating our unit’s event – a mix of
morning business meetings, afternoon recreational activities and evening social
functions.
The staff worked for most of the year leading up to the
event to create sophisticated business theater -- identifying and directing
outside speakers, producing sophisticated multi-image video programs and pyrotechnics,
and writing theme, continuity and speech material.
Except -- no red. No red type. No red on slides or graphics
or sets. Not even the gels used on the stage lights could be any shade of red.
Red is unique in that it can attract or repel, elevate or
enrage.
In many of the world’s cultures, red has positive
connotations – good luck in China and India, beauty in Russia.
To the Hindu, red symbolizes joy, life, energy, creativity.
But red has its share of negatives: “seeing red” … “red flag”
… “not worth a red cent” … “red tape.”
In financial reporting, red represents minus.
In the Catholic Church, it signifies martyrs.
And, of course, there’s Nathaniel Hawthorne’s infamous herald
of disgrace, the scarlet letter.
In her novel, Pretty Face, Mary Hogan couldn’t have treated the color better: “Red is the color of life. It's blood, passion, rage. It's menstrual flow and after birth. Beginnings and violent end. Red is the color of love. Beating hearts and hungry lips. Roses, Valentines, cherries. Red is the color of shame. Crimson cheeks and spilled blood. Broken hearts, opened veins. A burning desire to return to white.”
Who knows what it was about red that set off our CEO?
We didn’t push back at him too much, even though he inserted
himself into our field of expertise. After all, he was the one on stage, the
host of the party. It was his brand.
And he knew it. That’s why he periodically reminded those of
us responsible for producing the lavish events of that big-budget era: “If you know so much, why aren’t you working
in Hollywood and making six figures?”
Peter, something red also appears in nearly every shot in the film "American Beauty," often associated with roses, adding a touch of beauty and elegance and a hint of menace and violence.
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