I always thought headache pills were white because that makes them cheaper to make – how naïve of me! According to a recent study, people are more likely to believe that a white pill is better at treating headache pain than if it were any other colour.
US researchers showed people pictures of pills of a variety of shapes and colours, asking them to judge them on factors like how easy they’d be to swallow, bitterness, effect on headache pain, and effect on mental alertness. The test was also repeated in China and Colombia – according to the Wall Street Journal.
White pills were seen as the best pain killers in all three countries and diamond-shaped pills the hardest to swallow.
In the US; red pills were seen as the most mentally stimulating; light blue, the least bitter; and light green, the least effective for headaches.
In China, both red and blue pills were seen as hard to swallow. Neither the US nor Colombian participants associated any particular colour with difficulty of swallowing.
Pharma manufacturers have long used the shape and colour of their drugs to re-inforce their brand and also to help dissuade piracy. The blue diamond shape of Viagra is probably the most high profile example.
The research was done using pictures of drugs rather than physical tablets – which may have affected the results – but they are nevertheless interesting, and (in my opinion) a little frightening.
In The Matrix, did Neo choose the red pill because he expected it to be more mentally stimulating? We will never know.
Read more [here].
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