Why is there no yellow toothpaste?

“You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.”

I think in general blue is seen as quite a sterile color.
Yes, the sky and the sea are blue, but in terms of most of the things we eat, and animals that we encounter, it’s not a common color. Bright blue liquids inherently look synthetic. So it has become standard for cleaning products of all kinds, and things like band-aids for people who work with food, to be blue.

When striped toothpaste was a relatively new thing, in the 80s I guess it was, I recall one that had a thin yellow stripe, along with two other colors, probably red and blue. It freaked me out a little at the time, and I haven’t even thought about it until now.

Yellow…

… is the colour of nasty stains
… implies (to many) teeth less clean/white
… implies older general appearance
… implies poorer hygiene
… may be more likely to stain toothbrush
… is the colour of urine and mucus
… tends to “harsher” food flavours
(lemons are sour, mustard is sharp, curries etc.)

Yes, none of these has to apply. But most of them do subconsciously. Exactly what advantages are obtained to offset these? Easier to find in the dark?

As well as for demonstrations of absorbency in advertising for products like toilet paper, diapers, menstrual pads, tampons, etc. Blue would nearly never be the actual color of the bodily product being “depicted,” and thus, the ad doesn’t make people as squeamish.

There is purple toothpaste!

And green.

And lemon.

The above link to lemon toothpaste doesn’t show you what the paste itself looks like, but this one does.

It looks like you’re brushing your teeth with margarine.

I bought a bottle of the purple because I love anything purple. Tried it once then tossed the bottle. I had to close my eyes while eating it on fries, because it turned my stomach looking at it. My mind said grape, but my mouth said NO!

Dammit, I reopened this zombie thread because I bought “coconut and ginger” toothpaste a couple days ago, and was surprised to find the paste basically looks like lemon curd…

But, scrolling up, I see people have already come across the colgate “natural extracts” range, so I’m not adding anything new :man_facepalming:

Back in the late 60’s/early 70’s there was this thick liquid that was supposed to help remove coffee and tobacco stains from teeth. You’d dribble it on a dry tooth brush and scrub your teeth with it. I have no idea what is was called and can’t find it online. But we had it at our house as my mother both drank a lot of coffee and smoked a bit at that time of history.

It wasn’t toothpaste but it was yellow.

W. T. F.

{ runs off to Amazon }

I remember when the Johnson Smith catalog used to sell liquor flavored toothpaste.

Heheh, scotch flavored toothpaste, for when you just can’t stand to not have a smoky aftertaste in your mouth. I’d buy it once, at least. No mention of fluoride, though.

It sounds like Pearl Drops, maybe? But I don’t recall it being yellow.

No. I was a liquid although it was a heavy liquid yet not a get. Kind of hard to explain. Had an odd taste, not really pleasant.