Because wearing a green hat in Chinese sounds like the word for cuckold. And we all know that a cuckold is some poor sap who is the last to know that his wife is out sharing the “goods.” Green is death on the newsstand. As quoted by Alexander Liberman, Conde Nast’s Editorial Director from 1962 to 1994. Race car drivers stopped driving green cars after two horrible crashes. Rumor has it that it was the arsenic from Napoleon’s green wallpaper that did him in. And yet green is supposed to make you happy. Hence “the green room” where guests await their interviews.

What do you think? Can a color really be so powerful?

Imagine if all the products were just white. And all the marketing was just white. You could only wear white. Every billboard was white. Would it be soothing or just plain dull? Researchers say that blue lends a feeling of quality and trust, red makes people want to act and green makes people want to spend money. Yellow tends to get the most attention but it can be hard on the eyes.

One study showed that the color combination with the most powerful psychological effect was a yellow title with white text on a dark blue background. The question is, was it a good psychological effect?

Some think you should create an identity through all your marketing and products with one or two colors you use over and over. This is a very basic and effective way to tie all your stuff together in the minds of customers. Maybe. But I think a logo can accomplish consistency and recognition and still afford you flexibility in design. Of course you could ignore color all together and just make the product the hero. That strategy certainly worked for Absolut.

“All the women had purple noses and gray lips and their faces were chalk white from terrible powder. I recognized that the United States could be my life’s work.” Helena Rubinstein, cosmetics magnate.

If only securing your niche in the marketplace was always that obvious. Finding the need is step one. Step two is promoting your find. Helena knew how effective marketing could be. She was one of the first to use celebrity endorsements. She understood the perceived value in overpricing. She knew the trick of implying pseudo-science in the defining of her skincare line. She made sure her packaging was luxurious even down to her beauticians adorned in neat uniforms. No detail was left to chance. She even commissioned Salvador Dali to design a powder compact.

Would she have been as successful with just seeing the obvious? The answer is no.

She sold her company to Lehman brothers for 7.3 million in 1928. She bought the shares back for less than a million after the crash. That must have been a nice moment for her. Not so much for the brothers. Her company grew to be worth well over a 100 million.

I wish I had some shares of that stock. For now I am banking on spotting an old powder compact with the initials S.D. on it.

Uncle Jack’s Killer hits The East Hampton Star this week. Check it out. Unless you’re scared of the dark. http://www.easthamptonstar.com