COLOR TRANSFORMS

Color can transform a design in many ways, but it is most powerful in commercial marketing. My mother always told me that the only reason I wanted Lucky Charms Cereal was because the box was colorful, and she had a good point. Color displays subconscious messages and attracts our attention in many contexts, especially in the store. Josef Albers, in "Interaction of Color," mentions briefly that the differences in color; what we like what we dont like, how we feel about one color or another, depends upon the person. However, I will also point out that society has a lot to do with the way we perceive color, perhaps it is mostly a U.S. phenomenon, but I am sure it occurs in other places as well. For example, a blue toy is meant for a boy while the pink to toy is meant for the girl. So the box of Lucky Charms is rainbow colors, and therefore will appeal to all children because there are many colors and favorites to draw them to that product. Parents, on the other hand, I have found go for the simpler designs and not as many colors, because it implies a simpler cereal which they intake as a healthier product with less junk and additives. The way color is all in our heads, as Albers explains, because it changes depending on the context and is not always going to evoke the same visual experience, but he is certain that a different experience is going to occur.
So what if we switched around the color theories that marketing designers use for cereal, could we make kids beg and stomp for healthy cereal if the packaging is still colorful and enticing? Or another possibility, what if mom and dads cereal were suddenly springing with all the colors and funny cartoons, would they hesitate even if it was the same cereal inside?