The Color of Difference: Critiquing Cultural Convergence Via Television Advertising.

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In an earlier paper in this journal (Holden 1997a) I argued that television commercials utilize color to deliver essential meaning. This argument was based upon a sample of over 10,000 commercials from America and Japan culled over the past five years. Relative to black and white the analysis revealed, among other things, that this color set functioned as signifier, metaphor and myth in often similar ways across societal boundaries. In short, contrary to the popular view articulated in semiotics and cultural studies this particular sign set evinced a great deal of “unisemy”. This paper takes up where the last left off, critically assessing the implications of the unisemy finding. It asks “to what degree does color exist as indicia of a homogenous or homogenizing world?” In short, can color shed any light on the question of globalization–a key concern in discussions of modern and post-modern (i.e. “information”) society. To answer this question I compare the uses, conventions and meanings of particular colors in comparative context. I conclude that while evidence of homogenization can be found, there are also large pockets of distinctive use and meaning-conferral. At least relative to America and Japan, color in advertising illuminates large zones of practical and ideational uniqueness in the focal societies.

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