A Love Letter to the Color Orange

Pssssssst. Hey! Come here! Got something to show 'ya. It's a little embarrassing, but we trust you to be kind. See these three baby products?

These three aren't super popular. No cap. (Did we use it right?) The other styles in these baby gifts are absolutely flying off the shelves, but not these guys.

Flying

off

the

shelves

Why!? We TRULY cannot figure it out. They're all so different, so cute, and they work so hard for you... what? What's that, you say? You see a certain *commonality* they all share?

Oh. They're all orange. We see it now. Ok, here's the thing. THE COLOR ORANGE IS AWESOME. It's energetic! It's gender neutral! It's warm, and welcoming, and attention grabbing. Why do we hate orange so much, America?

There are many cultures around the world who love and appreciate orange. Orange brings to mind the beautiful saffron robes of Buddhist monks, the many colors of India's Holi Festival, and all the nations of the world who claim orange as a color on their national flag.

gorgeous

According to this (admittedly flawed) study from 2012, orange is in the bottom two of all humanity's favorite colors. Ok, the surveyor extrapolated all humanity's preferences from a "convenience sample" of students, faculty, and staff at his university but... I dunno, kinda feels right, though?

Ok Blue, quit braggin'

Where did we veer so far left on this whole orange thing?

Was it when we made our prison jumpers orange?

Ok, I can see that

Or our traffic signs?

It's starting to make sense now

Was it when we canonized it into Halloween's signature color, originally meant to be the color of autumn, harvest, and abundance, now forever the color of squishy, stinky pumpkin guts rotting on your front porch?

Sigh. We have work to do.

Well, America. This will not stand. Orange is awesome, and we are going to prove it to you. We are going to prove you already know that orange is awesome, in spite of these negative associations, and we just need to embrace our joint orange destiny. Observe:

The biggest brands in the country utilize orange in their logos

  

Amazon, Etsy, Home Depot, NBC, Google (if you squint), Microsoft, Ebay, the Miami Dolphins, Miami State, Miami Marlins (That's what's up, Florida!! It's because of the literal oranges, isn't it?)

Literally Florida

Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Orioles, Harley Davidson, Firefox, Dunkin' Donuts, Mastercard, Nickelodeon, University of Texas, New York Mets, Reese's, FedEx... need we go on? And those are just the brands that have orange as a prominent element in their logos. The brands with orange as an accent color would just be too many to list.

Sorry, we forgot one -

*innocent blink* no, officer, we have no skin in this game at all

Psychology says you like orange

The Color Psychology of Orange, an article from VeryWellMind.com, claims that orange calls to mind feelings of excitement, enthusiasm, and warmth. And "orange is energetic, which is perhaps why many sports teams use orange in their uniforms, mascots, and branding." Vindicated!

And then there's the "pop of color" that HGTV says can turn your blue bedroom into an avant garde sleeping experience. According to Brian Patrick Flynn of HGTV, in his article "The 3 Colors You Hate Most + The Right Way To Use Them," small doses of orange can work wonders in otherwise muted rooms.

Oh, yep, I see what you did there

And on that note, let's expound upon the idea that orange is a complementary color to blue (generally understood to be humanity's favorite color, see above) and take a peek at the poster for Every Single Movie:

(c) Greg Smith of Obsev.com, "Why is Every Movie Poster Orange and Blue?"

"When the human eye seems complementary colors next to each other, it's naturally pleasing. The colors 'pop.'" Which is why orange, apparently the most reviled color, is always riding the coat tails of its complementary opposite blue, and it works. Is this orange/blue movie poster phenomenon a bit cliche at this point? Yes. But do I want to see every movie that uses an orange/blue color scheme in its poster? Also yes.

Some of the healthiest foods in the world are orange

What's healthy about orange foods? Beta-carotene, for one, and Vitamin C among others. When the pumpkin isn't rotting on your porch - when it is instead a delicious soup or a pie, it reclaims orange a little bit in your heart, does it not?

Come on, y'all. Let's embrace orange for what it is. A vibrant, healthy, energetic, gender neutral, ubiquitous, compelling, and frequently adorable-on-baby-products color that we should celebrate every day, not just during jack-o-lantern rotting season. VIVE L'ORANGE!

Please vive l'orange, we have so many of these

Enter BOGORANGE at checkout for a free PaciGrip Silicone in Orange Bubbles! Just drop it in your cart with any one other thing and orange up your life!

BooginHead is a small, woman-owned, independent business that makes the cutest pacifier clips, baby bibs, and even face masks. We are proud to support Black Lives Matter and LGBTQIA+ Equality. A portion of our monthly proceeds are donated to COVID-19 relief organizations local and nationwide, and to the fight for a more just and equitable world. See our BooginHead Blog for details on that and our other philanthropic efforts!