The Psychology of Oil Bottle Color in Purchases

[CrackyWainwright]

In another thread someone humorously mentioned that Castrol Edge EP is clearly superior to most other oils because it comes in that beautiful gold bottle. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging myself, so this caught my attention. I think -- forgive me for even joking about falling off the wagon here -- that if LUCAS OIL TREATMENT started showing up in a gold plastic bottle, I might go back to using it just like I did in my heathen, pagan, uneducated, pre-BITOG days.

Reckon how many people actually do make oil purchase decisions based on color of packaging?

 

[lawrencerd]

When the new bottles for Pennzoil and QS came out I had to try some. I think to people in the know this might be more of a factor than the general population, because we know that it all will basically work fine so we are free to choose on price or a whim EG bottle or color. I fully intend to try the new Valvoline bottles when they come out too, LOL

 

[javacontour]

Little do they know that I'm colorblind, mwahaahaaaha!

 

[TheKracken]

I buy Pennzoil because of the bottles. I am a sucker for yellow and black combo so I have like 15 jugs of PUP.

 

[fenixguy]

Funny thing is, I equate gold products (not actual gold) to being cheap, cheesy, low-brow marketing.

I like the black Castrol Edge bottles myself. I really liked the old PP and PUP silver and charcoal bottles. Now that they're all yellow, I guess I can't use it anymore.

Mobil 1 bottles are okay, a little boring.

My favorite is Valvoline, with the big American flag right on the label.

Joking aside, I buy what's on Rollback at Walmart or on a deep discount somewhere else when I need to change oil. Right now I have a mix of Peak, Castrol, and Valvoline Maxlife. I wish they were all clear bottles like Quaker State used to have.

 

[mclasser]

VTEC kicks in much harder when I use oil from silver jugs.

 

[Kamele0N]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
Little do they know that I'm colorblind, mwahaahaaaha!


Be quiet...military could be sniffing (listening)

 

[pbm]

I do not like black bottles because it's impossible to see if any additives settled out in the bottom of the bottle.
I also think SOPUS made a mistake using all yellow (and all green for QS) with only the label differentiating the product....it was much easier to differentiate products when the synthetic came in different color containers than the dino...

 

[Ethan1]

Ideally you want to match the oil jug to your car's paint

 

[Merkava_4]

My favorite bottle used to be the Castrol GTX bottle because the viscosity grade was colored in with the plastic of the bottle. With other oil bottles, I often wonder if they put the wrong sticker on it.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I like clear bottles

 

[bigj_16]

As long as it is not purple....

 

[MolaKule]

Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
I like clear bottles

Same here!

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Packaging means zero its that little $XX.XX that makes the sale it just has to be full synthetic and meet API.

 

[zorobabel]

What I care about is how easily you can determine the oil level inside the bottle. With Castrol IMV ATF black quart bottles you can't.

 

[fdcg27]

The main color interest I have in buying oil is the greenish stuff that comes out of my wallet.
Bottle color is far less important to me than sale price+store discounts+MIRs.

 

[Carbon12]

Was talking cars one day with a guy who commutes long distances like I do. He told me he changes oil every 5000 miles since it's easy to remember and he uses Pennzoil because he likes the yellow bottle.

I like to buy whatever I can get rebates on, but I have to admit I think the green Castrol Magnatec bottles are cool.

 

[danez_yoda]

Marketing 101,

Put identical oil in two different bottles side by side on the shelf for the same price. One with flashy colors and label and one in plain white and black printed bottle with only the "Motor Oil " weight, api grade and service rating on it in plain text, no graphics.

Make them the same price. The flashy one will sell out before the plain one get taken.

People do judge a book by its cover ALL the time.

 

[mooferz]

I miss the transparent bottles of QSUD.

 

[danez_yoda]

I liked clear too. You can see what you are getting.