Many drugs from different brands have different colors. For example, Majezik (blue), Dolorex (red) and Arveles (white) are drugs that have different colors but are similar to each other in that they act as pain relievers.
So why aren’t they all white? Then come, let’s go into the details and tell the truth of the matter without making you wonder any more.
The first reason for this is that drug manufacturers prefer “that way” as a marketing tactic.
As a matter of fact, it doesn’t matter if Nurofen is yellow or Dolorex is red. Just because the color of a drug is blue, it doesn’t make it more effective or better.
The purpose of the companies is only this; Let’s say the person has a disease and is prescribed a medication. For example, this drug turned out to be yellow by chance. If the medicine is good for that individual’s illness, the yellow color may connotate him, so when the person is sick again, the medicine he will prefer may be the same because of this connotation. For this reason, drug manufacturers can produce pills in different colors because they want people to adopt their brands.
For example, in a study, it is said that pills with dark-toned capsules are perceived as more effective than some people. In other words, drug brands do perception management because they want people to emotionally connect with these colors. Which encourages the consumption of that company’s products.
For example, the reason why Viagra is known as the blue pill is because the brand that produced it has appropriated the blue color. Likewise, when we look at flu remedies, Abdi İbrahim’s reddish orange Cold Away may come to mind. In short, a company can determine a color for branding and always use this color in its production processes. Thus, customers may want to place in their memory. For example, you know what the pill is from the color of the medicine and who produced it.
Another reason: the placebo effect
The placebo effect means that a drug or treatment is thought to cause a psychological or physical condition, even though it actually has no effect. In one study, people are told that red, yellow and orange are stimulating, while blue and green are calming.
The participants of the study have an expectation about the pills based on what they are told before using the drugs. Afterwards, when they actually use the drugs, they experience the same things they were told about the pills. The placebo effect is actually similar to the research example we mentioned in the previous title. Because the meanings that people attribute to the colors of the drugs can lead them to think that they are getting the expected effect from that drug.
The colors of the pills can be different so that they can be easily distinguished.
A patient using different drugs can tell which drug he/she is using for what by the color of his/her color. It’s actually kind of colors, the person’s “I’m taking this medicine because I have back pain” etc. It causes them to encode such thoughts in their minds. This is a situation that provides ease of sale not only for patients but also for pharmacists. In order to sell drugs that have the same effect but are different, they need to know not only the ingredients of those drugs, but also the distinction as to whether they are capsules or powders, yellow or red.
Now you can say: How then will pharmacists distinguish drugs with the same color? They have to distinguish it by reading the active ingredients in the drug and having more detailed information about the pills.
Sometimes it may just be pharmaceutical (caused by the chemical aspects of the pills).
If the color of the drug is white, this indicates that the composition of the other active substances that make up the capsule, reveals the white color. In other words, the color that the chemicals of the drug come together (we can call it concentration) can sometimes be black, red or blue.
Sometimes, colorants and opacifiers are added to the capsule to ensure that the chemical components in the pill are stable and not insensitive to light. This is to prevent the capsules from spoiling. Let’s say you have a tablet in your hand, the color pigment of it is purple, it can act as a curtain to protect the chemicals in the medicine from light.
In short, it can be caused by pharmaceutical reasons such as the fact that the pills are produced in different colors, they are not mixed with each other and they do not deteriorate. Apart from this, as we discussed above, the reason can be for purposes such as perception management and marketing.
Editor’s Note: In this article, we touched on the scientific reasons why pills are produced in different colors. It is wrong for people to use drugs according to their minds. Do not try to use this type of health product unless your doctor prescribes it. Read this article as well as an explanation of the cause of an issue. There is no drug recommendation in the article.
- Sources: Single Care, Capsul Cn
- Image Sources: Time, Single Care, Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Single Care 2, Everyday Health
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