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May 15, 2008 1:47 PM
Is pink really evil?
A while ago, Shiny Big Cheese, Katie, sent me this link to an article in Radar Magazine about classic books getting "chick lit makeovers" (the illustration, left, comes from the article). Basically, Alice Munro's The View From Castle Rock has been reissued with some pink on the cover. The horror!
The reason it's taken me so long to write about this is that, following Katie's email I got a few more emails from friends alerting me to the sudden pink backlash all over the interweb. So many links to so many demented, irrational arguments that I just couldn't even begin to write about it without punching the screen.
Apparently pink "damages girls' brains" and "not only does a disservice to literature, but to women". But I just don't see it.
Am I missing something? For a start, there are nowhere near as many chick lit books in pink covers as is claimed. ("Where are all the books, pyjamas or sports kit in other colours?" asked Katy Guest in The Independent. Um. In the shops?) But even if every single book aimed at women (which is pretty much every single book published since, as we know, men don't do much reading), how exactly would that damage our brains?
I get that pink might put some people off reading the book, but if you're put off a book solely by the colour of the cover, then perhaps your brain has already been damaged...
Incidentally, the Katy Guest article also included the following: "Last week, the best-selling novel was This Charming Man by Marian Keyes. It is aimed at women, so obviously its cover is pink."
Ah, now I see why Guest only sees "books, pyjamas [and] sports kit" in pink. She's colour blind. I did try to leave a comment to the effect that the cover of the book is purple - PURPLE! - but I couldn't make it sound like I'm not a nutter so I had to give up.
So what do you think? Are you overwhelmed by pink? Horrified by pink? Or do you think it's, you know, pretty?
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Posted by Aigua Media on May 15, 2008 in Book covers, Opinion | Permalink
Comments
I think it's all a ridiculous storm in a teacup and it hurts my head thinking about it! Let's see, I have a bookshelf entirely filled with books aimed at teenage girls here and the overriding colour is: well, I think it's blue, actually. Or white. There is some pink, some red, some black, one is yellow, one is purple and green... why am I doing this? Who cares? Aaargh!
Great post! :)
Posted by: Luisa | May 15, 2008 2:34 PM
Well, I love pink. It's soft and feminine and flirty. Perhaps that's why it's on so many books aimed at women. But really, why is it such an issue? Who cares if a book's cover is pink or green or blue. There are much bigger matters to take issue with in this world. I think these people just have too much time on their hands...
Posted by: Lucie Simone | May 15, 2008 3:54 PM
As the very proud owner of a pink book cover, I have pondered this very argument.
In my opinion pink = eye catching and bright and will attract a certain kind of reader ie the kind of reader I like.
I've had a blue and a green cover before now and the pink is probably my most favourite to date.
(And yes, Marian Keyes is PURPLE!)
Posted by: Claire | May 15, 2008 4:22 PM
I love pink. Really and truly. And I've noticed that when choosing books, I tend to go with colors I like, then see what the book is about. That's just me. Now, I do not have an overwhelming amount of pink books...in fact I have several orange, blue, black and red. Which is fine, but if it comes in pink, that's even better. And it's I'd like to close with, it's perfectly fine to have pink and like pink in whatever you do. Thank you.
Posted by: Jennifer | May 15, 2008 10:55 PM
I love pink. I admit it and I firmly agree that if you're put off by a book cover simply because it's pink, then you really need to re-evaluate how you select your reading material.
Pink is great; it's half the colour of coconut ice, the colour of the sunset on a clear Winter's day, loads of flowers come in pink, it's a colour that looks good on most women (and some men!) and it's the colour to support breast cancer research.
There's nothing wrong with pink.
Posted by: Chantelle | May 16, 2008 5:07 AM
Hmm.
To be honest, while I don't mind pink, and being an avid reader of romance and chick lit, I've bought my fair share of pink books, but...I still don't like the Castle Rock cover. It has less to do with the color and more to do with the fact that a cover of a girl in a bikini doesn't really suit the story at all. That's what bugs me about it.
I do think pink is overused though. There are other colors that are pretty too, publishers!
Posted by: Amanda | May 16, 2008 6:59 PM
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