Short answer
Partly. Large cross-national studies find strong shared patterns in how people associate colours with emotions and flavours, alongside real local differences that grow with linguistic and geographic distance. Specific associations — which colour means lemon, which means mint, which is used for celebration or mourning — are learned and vary within countries as well as between them, so they should be checked in each market rather than taken from a chart of 'what colours mean'.
The largest study of colour–emotion associations, by Jonauskaite and colleagues, asked 4,598 people in 30 nations to link 20 emotion concepts to 12 colour terms. The patterns were strikingly similar across nations, with an average similarity coefficient of 0.88. That is evidence against the idea that colour meaning is wholly arbitrary from place to place. It is not evidence that any single association is universal: the similarity is of whole patterns, and the study worked with colour words, not printed colours on packs.
The same study found that a participant's nation still predicted their associations beyond the shared pattern, and that nations were more alike when they were linguistically or geographically close. An earlier eight-country study of colour for logos by Madden, Hewett and Roth reported both similarity and dissimilarity in colour preferences and meanings. Colour–flavour links show the same thing at product level. Most young Taiwanese participants in one study expected a clear blue drink to taste of mint, where most young British participants expected raspberry. Such differences are about learned product environments, not about any fixed trait of the people involved.
The table reproduces one set of matching results: participants in Colombia, China and the UK chose the colour that best matched each flavour word. Tomato and cucumber drew strong agreement everywhere. Lemon split — yellow in China and the UK, green in Colombia, where the everyday 'limón' is typically a green citrus. Chicken and barbecue drew much weaker agreement in China than in the other two countries. The lesson for a pack designer is not that one country 'thinks' in a certain way; it is that product experience shapes colour expectations, and the products people buy differ.
Colours tied to festivals, weddings, luck and mourning are frequently cited in packaging advice, often as one-line rules about whole regions. Those traditions are real but more varied than the rules suggest: they differ between communities, religions and generations within one country, and they change. Colourwise's culture pages treat them with sources and context rather than as a lookup table. For packaging, the practical point is narrower: seasonal and gift packs are where these associations matter most, and they should be checked with people from the specific market and occasion, not inferred from a map.
Treat any statement of the form 'in country X, colour Y means Z' as a starting question for local research, not an answer.
| Flavour | Colombia | China | UK |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato | Red (96.6%) | Red (75.9%) | Red (93.1%) |
| Cucumber | Green (91.4%) | Green (82.8%) | Green (96.6%) |
| Lemon | Green (100%) | Yellow (65.5%) | Yellow (100%) |
| Chicken | Orange (77.6%) | Orange (44.8%) | Orange (69.0%) |
| Barbecue | Burgundy (86.2%) | Burgundy (36.2%) | Burgundy (87.9%) |
Each statement is labelled by kind — established fact, a standard’s requirement, observed market data, a convention, or Colourwise’s own interpretation or analysis — with the strength of the evidence behind it.
FactStrong evidence
Across 4,598 participants in 30 nations, colour–emotion association patterns were highly similar (average similarity r = .88), yet nation still predicted associations beyond the shared pattern, with greater similarity between linguistically or geographically close nations.
Measured: 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages.
Caveat: Colour terms rather than physical colour samples; associations with emotions, not with products.
FactModerate evidence
An eight-country study of colour for logos found cross-cultural patterns of both similarity and dissimilarity in colour preferences and colour-meaning associations.
Caveat: Published in 2000; the specific country results are not reproduced here.
FactLimited evidence
In colour–flavour matching data from Colombia, China and the UK, 'lemon' was matched to green by all Colombian participants and to yellow by all British participants, while tomato and cucumber were matched to red and green in all three countries.
Measured: Participants in Colombia, China and the UK (Velasco et al. 2014, as reported in 2015).
Caveat: Small samples choosing from a fixed set of colours; the result reflects local product experience, not a national trait.
Colourwise interpretationModerate evidence
Colour associations used in packaging should be verified with people from the specific market and occasion, because they vary within countries and change over time as well as differing between countries.
Based on: Colourwise's reading of the cross-national studies above, which find both shared patterns and nation-level differences, and of the within-country disagreement reported in colour–flavour research.
Reviewed 29 September 2026. Colourwise summarises its sources in its own words and does not reproduce standards text or proprietary colour data. Spotted an error? Tell us.