If you’ve ever looked at your tube of toothpaste from every angle, you’ve surely spotted a small colorful square at the end of it. But what is it for?
This question may seem trivial, but it has given rise to many theories on the Internet. The different colors would have for some a very precise meaning. Thus, consumers could learn more about the composition of their toothpaste, from the most natural (green square), to the most chemical (black square).
square on toothpaste
toothpaste colors?
Green: natural
Blue: Natural medicine
Red: Natural chemical composition
Black: chemical pic.twitter.com/PQbLLbXRW9
– dominique gbagbo (@ dominiquegbagb2) July 17, 2017
But the truth is quite different. Indeed, the magazine 60 Million Consumers has approached several brands of toothpaste, and all are categorical: this colored square has nothing to do with the composition of the products.
Simplify toothpaste production
In reality, the sole purpose of this small geometric shape is to “make it easier in the factory to carry out the various stages of production”, specify the spokespersons of Oral-Care and Laverana GmbH & Co. KG, interviewed by the consumer magazine. Called “eyemark”, this marking allows machines on the production line to better identify each tube, and therefore to fill, cut or weld it in the right place and in the right way.
As for the panel of different colors, it results from a simple choice of the brand, dictated above all by efficiency. Laverana GmbH & Co. KG explains for example opting for black “darker than the rest of the packaging so that it can be detected more easily by machines”.
The reason behind these small colored squares is therefore less mysterious than some Internet users want to believe. And for those who want to know the composition of their toothpaste, just look on the packaging, where it must be.