Pink is a curious colour. Little boys insist it is only for girls. The 'pink dollar' has different associations - but is welcome everywhere, like certain credit cards. The Financial Times is known as the pink paper. And outre colour consultants claim that pink drains energy - which is why locker rooms offered to visiting sporting opponents are apparently painted in the colour. Talk about mixed messages. And then there is pink wine - which comes in many hues.
'Pink Alert 2007' runs the headline. 'Sturdy young British winemaker Julian Faulkner is not afraid to show his feminine side,' reads the launch publicity for several rose wines from Provence, France. The blurb also mentions Faulkner's 'big ego'.
More mixed messages?
On the other side of the world, New Zealand's Kim Crawford launched what was claimed to be the world's first gay wine two years ago - a merlot-based rose called Pansy. Yet marketeers believe rose is a wine that should be targeted at women and young people.
Rose's image is all over the place - caused in part by one of the most successful vinous super-brands in the world: the bright pink, slightly sweet and simple Mateus Rose. While it is no longer the trailblazer it was in the 1970s, its Portuguese parent company claims that more than one billion bottles have been sold in its 60-year history. It remains a top seller in Macau, available at even the smallest cafes.
Despite its image problem, rose is on the up and up. Sales are growing rapidly in Britain, which is conventionally considered the pulse of the world wine market.