Colors, and in this case the chrome plating of cars, are a fundamental means of communication for humans. They define our being and are our first point of contact with others. Depending on the color we choose, we express something, a way of being.
Olivier François, CEO of FIAT, plays on this very point. He talks about "being who you want, at least when you buy a car." Yet, in a world that constantly tells you you can be whoever you want, everyday life brings you back down to earth. The "Nuova Dolce Vita " he speaks of is, in this scenario, the American dream that has gone unrealized and has turned gray.
The color of cars today
The evolution of car colors has evolved throughout history, from the black Ford T to today's Fiat color. The "Global Automotive 2022 Color Popularity Report" outlined in its research that the world colors are 34% white, 21% black, and 19% gray. It is clear that only in Europe does gray take first place with 27%, black with 22%, and white with 21%.
In 2022, therefore, black has given way to gray in Europe. Society, according to this perspective, tends to be divided into those who unconsciously communicate through black cars (it's no coincidence that the cars of ministers, ambassadors, heads of state, etc., are this color) and white cars (it's no coincidence that airplanes are blue and that this color is associated with the sky and altitude). The European society that in 2022, in a revolutionary way, favored gray is emerging as a hybrid, a catalyst for two opposing forces that, however, merge and coexist: black and white.
The alchemical meaning of car colors
The alchemical world of colors is divided into two archetypal chromatic macro-areas: white and black, which are the quintessential symbols of life, good, death, and evil, respectively, as Durand expresses in "The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary . " White, by definition, symbolizes purity, freedom, and new beginnings, while black symbolizes opposition and protest, but also discretion and elegance. Indeed, it is noteworthy how in liturgy, we shift from white to black depending on the ceremony being celebrated. Black, as James Hillman remarks, "dissolves everything that consciousness considers real and precious," namely life. In any case, these two hues have always governed the world, also associating themselves with symbols and myths that infuse our culture into an archetypal mystique that marketing plays upon.
Today, in Europe, with the choice of gray for the car , an attempt was made to veer towards a color that synthesized the two opposites, which sought to break away from a dichotomous paradigm by opening up to a paradigm of et/et after the numerous events of recent years such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war, where it became clear that one does not have destiny in one's hands and that error and fortuitous events are always in vogue.
The “revolutionary” color of Fiat cars
The choice made by Olivier François, the brand's CEO, however, is based on a concept also beautifully expressed in the advertising for the corresponding Color FIAT: the valorizing verticalization that relies on the two colors of either/or to survive. The origin of this valorizing verticalization, specific to this world, is in fact the unraveling of the world into two different shades of color, black and white, as mentioned above. For this reason, the chrome-plated car sought to revive the American Dream, which was being lost in gray, through the acceptance of mediocrity and compromise. It is no coincidence that the advertisement depicts the car turning from gray to orange as it dives into the water.
The aforementioned advertisement features numerous symbols, such as water and immersion, which since ancient times have symbolized life, and the color orange, which symbolizes achievement. Furthermore, all the colors chosen for this new line are related to and symbolize vitality, hope, perseverance, and enthusiasm. The quintessential myth underlying contemporary times is the so-called American Dream, the idea that "everything is possible" and "if you want, you can," symbolized in the advertisements with bright colors resembling those of the sun. Note the gestures pointing upward, toward the sky (the crane in the FIAT advertisement). This type of cultural paradigm, however, does not contemplate failure, decline, death, or gray, precisely because it is an infinite climax without sinuosity.
Our need satisfied by fashion
The communicative effects of color have been rooted in the collective imagination since the dawn of time, and especially in marketing, they play a fundamental role in the unconscious in identifying and identifying an individual's belonging to a group, a way of thinking, a society, etc.
Through the colors we use, we express both interpersonal and social communication, delineating what we are, what we are not, and what we would like to be. The color of a car helps us stand out or be "similar to..." The foundation that allows this and has constructed this reality is capitalism: the democratization of our century, which, based on marketing and fashion, forces you to always be on the ball. In a world where the word "identity" no longer has its classic meanings, it becomes empty. The rule seems to be to appear in order to feel like "someone" or similar to "someone," even if only for a moment.
Emilia Marcotulli
References
https://www.axalta.com/content/dam/New Axalta Corporate Website/Images/Color/axalta-2022-global-automotive-color-popularityreport.pdf Hillman, Psicologia alchimica, Adeplhi Edizioni
