"On Wednesdays, we wear pink" has quickly become a classic movie quote which came from Tina Fey's hit comedy, Mean Girls, a farce all about the weird social roles teenage girls play while in high school. It's over the top, yet somehow relatable. The mean girls of the class have designated days for certain outfits and accessories, and on Wednesday, they wear pink.
It's a funny line. It's somehow ridiculous, the idea that Wednesday, the middle of the work week would be the official day for pink, that pink could be sort of like an important uniform.
I'll admit it, I always think twice before I wear anything pink-ish to work. I have some innate fear of looking too "girly." No one will take me seriously in pink. They'll think I'm silly, I think. Clearly, colors carry more weight than we admit, otherwise, I wouldn't think once about what color I'm wearing to work.
I used to have a pink surfboard. During one surf session, a middle aged fellow wave-rider said to me with horror and disgust, "No surfboard should be pink." I consciously I thought, What an old fart! Subconsciously, however, I'm sure it made me super aware of how pink my surfboard was, and while I knew I would keep using it, I also knew that every time I rode it, someone in the line up might hate that my board is pink. I eventually ended up trading the board for a gender neutral black and white board.
My board might not be pink anymore, but my bikini still is!
Maybe I need to look at this color, pink, in a different light. If it has the ability to make an "old fart" so uncomfortable, it's not weak. It's actually powerful...? According to Empower Yourself with Color Psychology, pink's mixture of red and white actually seems incredibly useful for a balanced lifestyle.
Its red ignites action and energy in ourselves, while white ignites integrity and sincerity. Perhaps that's what makes pink so powerful and foreign in the workplace, this mixture of drive with a genuineness that can't be ignored.
[adrotate banner="29"]
In other words, people notice you in pink, yes, because they think of Barbie (we can't help that...and maybe Barbie isn't so bad. She was the first woman astronaut), but they also notice you because it's an in your face energy with a straightforward agenda. When you put the color in psychological perspective, I can see why it might be a little intimidating.
This potential for power isn't the only benefit of pink; apparently it also has the tendency to soothe. In the design strategies of Feng Shui, pink serves a place in the home to relax and assuage. The color is proven to physically calm people in rooms painted pink. So rather than acting out aggressively, criminals placed in pink rooms tended to relax and lower anger.
Apparently, this rosey color can lower aggressive competition in those around you, perhaps giving us a chance to energize a room and be heard more closely by calmer listeners. Next time you think twice about wearing pink, think one more time and consider it as a strategy.
[jetpack_subscription_form]
No comments:
Post a Comment