Reduce the Color Saturation of Luxury Brands

We desire luxury products when standing further away because it feels like we can’t acquire them (Chu, Chang, & Lee, 2021).

Other research shows that your mental imagery is less colorful when you imagine a distant event (Lee, Fujita, Deng, & Unnava, 2017).

Compare those two findings:

• People prefer luxury brands with greater distance.
• Greater distance feels less colorful.

Therefore, shouldn't people should prefer luxury products with less color? Wouldn't these products feel more distant?

Indeed. In one study, a Tiffany watch seemed more luxurious in black-and-white (Wang, Wang, Mu, & Sun, 2022).

• Chu, X. Y., Chang, C. T., & Lee, A. Y. (2021). Values created from far and near: Influence of spatial distance on brand evaluation. Journal of Marketing, 85(6), 162-175.
• Lee, H., Fujita, K., Deng, X., & Unnava, H. R. (2017). The role of temporal distance on the color of future-directed imagery: A construal-level perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 43(5), 707-725.
• Wang, Y., Wang, T., Mu, W., & Sun, Y. (2022). What is the glamor of black‐and‐white? The effect of color design on evaluations of luxury brand ads. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 21(5), 973-986.