Advertising

Reduce Color in Text-Filled Ads

A lot of text can feel overwhelming, so reduce the level of color in these ads.

Nick Kolenda

Updated on March 18, 2023

Two ads with a picture and text. In one ad, the picture is desaturated to signify this tactic as a best practice.

Vibrant color isn't always effective.

Grayscale performs better when your ad contains a lot of text:

When the substantial resources devoted to ad processing are inadequate for thorough ad scrutiny, black-and-white ads or those that color highlight aspects highly relevant to ad claims are more persuasive (Meyers-Levy & Peracchio, 1995, p. 121)

Meyers-Levy, J., & Peracchio, L. A. (1995). Understanding the effects of color: How the correspondence between available and required resources affects attitudes. Journal of consumer research, 22(2), 121-138.