Ribbon Colours

Once upon a time, red signified danger, purple was reserved for royalty, and that was about all there was to colour coding. Now, it's used to such an extent that we must assign multiple interpretations to each colour.

In the past, coloured armbands were a way to show respect for the departed, allegiance to a political ideal, sympathy, solidarity or to create a sense of belonging to a social movement or worthy cause.

Coloured ribbons were used mainly as decoration for military medals. Recent years have seen the proliferation of coloured lapel ribbons, which have become a modern replacement of the armbands, advertising various awareness campaigns, causes and organisations.

Sometimes the ribbon is worn with another symbol. For example, Christians might wear a ribbon in conjuction with a lapel pin cross to Christianize their message (see AIDS cross.)

Wear a ribbon and you fly the flag of your favourite cause. But don't expect everyone to instantly recognise which cause you are supporting. Dozens of colours and over 550 causes are listed on this page, which is not exhaustive.

Titles frequently include "awareness" and "support", "campaign", etc. For clarity, these words have generally been omitted from the list.

(If your campaign ribbon is missing from this list, email us with details.)