The Interactive Effects of Consumer Personality and Colour Psychology on Digital Advertising Engagement

The Impact of Colour Psychology on Advertising and Branding This study proposes and tests a model of Colour-Message Congruity moderated by Consumer Personality to address a major gap in marketing literature related to the complex effects of colour. Prior research shows that colour significantly influences consumer judgment (up to 90% of initial evaluation) , but often oversimplifies its impact and overlooks psychological factors affecting responses to advertising appeals. This study incorporates a literature review of 43 publications and primary data collection from 125 online consumers. The conceptual framework is based on the Two-Dimensional Theory of Colour Affect (Activation vs. Evaluation) and the Self-Monitoring personality construct. The main hypothesis (H3) states that Evaluating Colours combined with Quality-Oriented Appeals increase click-through intent (CTI) among Low Self-Monitoring Consumers, while Activating Colours combined with Image-Oriented Appeals (H2) are more effective for High Self-Monitoring Consumers. The methodology provides a strategic roadmap for empirically validating this congruence model. Validating these hypotheses could significantly enhance strategic accuracy in digital advertising by shifting marketers from anecdotal colour choices to psychologically grounded decisions.