Medication Color

Medicines used to be plain and bland when it came to color. Through the years color has been introduced to soft gel tablets, liquid medicine, and even regular pills. This experimentation started in the 1960’s, and then boomed again in 1975 (Morton). A big question that people ask is why it is necessary or beneficial to color medication?

By changing the color of pills, it is easier for people to distinguish between different medications. It has also been observed during a study that certain colorings on certain types of medication make it more appealing to the consumer. Blues tend to symbolize sleep and restfulness, when a person is in pain they gravitate towards red pills to relieve the pain (Morton).

Companies also use color on their medical products to entice the consumer to buy it. Now that many drugs are available over the counter consumers need help deciding which product to choose (Morton). Since “80% of visual information is related to color (Morton)” companies try to use colors that will make their clients want to take the medicine and let them know what the medicine is for.

Works Cited:

Morton, Jill. "Taking the Color of Medications Seriously: Pharmaceutical Color – A New Frontier!." Color Matters. 2006. 11 Apr 2008 .