Please answer ‘True’ or ‘False’ to the following questions. 1. Yellow is the same as gold. 2. Pink is one of Ghana’s national colours. 3. Light green or bluish green is the same as deep green. 4. The red in our national flag represents the blood that was shed to win us independence from the tight apron strings of the British throne. 5. The colour grey is the same as black that represents the black star in Ghana’s flag. 6. It’s important to use the same colours consistently. Answers: 1 – False, 2 – False, 3 – False, 4 –True, 5 – False, 6 –True.
Consistency matters. Ghana’s national colours are horizontal strips of red, gold, green with the Black Star boldly and gorgeously seated in the middle. But what are the authentic colours? Does it matter the shade of the colours we use? It should matter.
We do know that the red symbolizes the blood that was shed by our forefathers to win us freedom from the funk of colonialism; the gold, of course, stands for our natural resource of gold; the green stands for our lush forests; and the black represents the beauty of the texture of our black skins.
During national feel-good moments, the highest of which is the periodic football seasons when Ghana features prominently on the international stage, Ghana’s national colours become our uniform. We wear, paint and hung them as decorative pieces of national pride. If we could eat red gold green during these high-octane occasions, we would. Alas, if we could, we would eat red fufuu, green groundnut soup, gold tilapia, and nibble on black chocolate for dessert.
However, it is during such national feel-good moments that the abuse and debasement of our national colours rise to a nonsense pitch. The colours degenerate and get no respect at all. Anything goes with no particular attention paid to the shade of colours we display. At a close look during such occasions, different shades of the four colours are paraded throughout our country – from flags, tee-shirts, hats, head bands and anything that could be worn, waved or hoisted.
Instead of the lush forest-green, different shades of green are observable, with some degenerating into bluish-green. Gold suffers humiliation to become various shades of yellow. Red is dishonoured with funny shades of pink. Even black suffers defilement to become greyish.
On the whole, our national colours have become adulterated while we go about feeling very happy, proud and on top of the world. It is as if our country now suffers from an acute case of colour blindness. See where the general lack of standardisation in our national life has brought us?
During international sporting events, Ghana gets the unique opportunity to market itself. The first ‘African’ World Cup has put us on the world stage as our ‘boys’ masterfully chased after and kicked balls. But during the recent unique opportunity, while we screamed hoarse in wild excitement for the Black Stars, we displayed several shades of red, gold and green instead of unified national colours. But it is important that when we lift up the flag of Ghana, we should lift up the same colours.
Ghana’s image is closely attached to its national colours. Using various shades of colours to represent our country tarnishes our image and gives the impression that we do not care. The World Cup was such a great opportunity for the Branding Ghana initiative to shine through and call our attention to the debasement of our national colours. What a missed opportunity!
The corporate world has always known the importance of consistency of logo and corporate colours in branding. Companies small and large painstakingly design and make decisions on the choice of logos, colours, slogans and flags for a purpose. These companies seek for identity, uniqueness, differentiation and exclusivity from others.
Symbols and colours offer a short-cut to a message because they can resonate with people once they become identifiable with the corporate entity. These are simple but powerful public relations, marketing and publicity tools. A brand communicates the values of a company and calls for message consistency because anything less creates fragmented, confusing and splintered messages. Clearly, a brand is an intangible asset that cannot be toyed with.
During national feel-good moments, Ghana’s national colours generate an emotional connection, creating a bond among us. The spontaneous display of our national colours everywhere by people from all social status -- young and old, male and female, tall and short, Ewe and Ashanti – is so inspirational and magical. The message of our national colours is national heritage and unity. Even our annoyingly divisive NPP/NDC politics take a back seat during such occasions. So maybe we need more of such occasions!
But, is a flag just a flag? No! Until Independence on March 6, 1957, Ghana’s flag was a version of the British Union Jack with an insert of an emblem showing a tropical rainforest with an elephant. Ghana, its people and everything it owned belonged to Britain. The adoption of our own national flag with specific colours at Independence has a powerful symbolic meaning. It implies that at last, we were on our own to take charge of our destiny.
People have shown pride in their national flags and colours from time immemorial. Some have died for their flags. While flags have united others, it has sharply divided others. Some even burn flags as an act of protest to show defiance and resistance. The swat sticker presents a dualism of the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. While it remains a symbol of unity and purpose for perpetuators of hatred, hostility and brutality, it undoubtedly stands fearfully as a symbol of oppression and pain for victims of racial prejudice and violence.
If Ghana as a brand is closely intertwined with our national colours and identity, then can it be said that as the quality of our national colours deteriorates, our country’s fortunes will also deteriorate? Symbolically, do we loose inspiration with the loss of every shade of the richness of our national colours? Most likely.
There is therefore a need for quality control, standardization and an effort to guard and jealously protect whatever are the authentic but vulnerable national colours from get-rich-quick manufacturers. Our flag and national colours should provide the seal of approval for anything Ghana, our cherished ideals and values. Whether the flag adorns the neck as a scarf or the head as a hat, the colour shades should be the same, otherwise they should not represent Ghana.
If our national colours are not protected now during our half-century of nationhood, who can tell what concoction of colours will be paraded about as our national colours another fifty to hundred years from now? They might not be recognizable or contain any meaning worth holding on to, or let alone become anchors of national pride and development.
We should care enough to get our national colours right and leave no room for mediocrity. We should show consistency with the colours that represent us as a nation state or else we will be conveying a fragmented message as we continue on the path of developing our country. We should sustain and proudly wallow in the exclusive esteem our authentic national colours bring. But what are they, specifically?
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