Mouthwash Manufacturers Rely on Spectrophotometers for Colour Quality Control to Ensure Brand Consistency

The colour of mouthwash has nothing to do with its efficacy. It is not the byproduct of any medicinal ingredients or flavors, nor do mouthwashes of different colours vary in substance. So why do mouthwash manufacturers bother adding coloration to their recipes? Branding.

What colour does your mouth smell like? Image Credit: Flickr User danjo paluska (CC BY 2.0)

Colour Is Inextricable From Brand for Mouthwash Companies

The bright blues, greens, yellow, and purples of various mouthwashes are intended to differentiate similar products in the eyes of consumers. While they may have the same active ingredients, differently colored mouthwashes look like separate products. The colours of mouthwash brands are also linked to unique flavors and scents. This affects customer choice in a number of ways.

For new customers, bold, eye-catching colours attract attention and lend an impression of potency. Particularly strong colours can be linked unconsciously with strong effects. Also, most people have preferences for certain colours (I happen to like yellow and green). Without more compelling reasons to prefer a particular brand, customers may simply pick the colour they like the best. Once they’ve picked this colour, unless the product is unsatisfactory for some reason—which is doubtful, as one is much the same the other—they’re likely to pick the same colour the next time. This preference will be reinforced by any perceived or actual differences in flavor or scent.

Customers develop loyalties towards particular mouthwash colours. Image Credit: Flickr User the impulsivebuy (CC BY 2.0)

Quality Control Processes Assure Mouthwash Brand Consistency

This effect is lost if manufacturers alter the colour of their products, or if their colours lack consistency from batch to batch. For these reasons, manufacturers employ stringent colour quality control procedures at their production facilities. Samples of each batch, or enough batches to generate statistical reliability, are measured in test labs before the mouthwash is bottled. Measurement is done at this stage to prevent any extra loss of revenue in bottling materials, bottling machine energy, or delivery costs. Any variation detected at the test lab stage can be corrected by mixing in additional colorants while the mouthwash is still in the vat.

For this purpose, most manufacturers have long since jettisoned human observers. Even when comparing mouthwash samples to established standards, human observers are subjective in their analysis of colour. Different observers can see different colours. Also, the same observer can see different colours based on lighting, sample size, and even mood. Given the large volumes of mouthwash produced, this subjectivity can result in inconsistent coloration, perhaps even in bottles sitting next to each other on the shelf. As colour is such an important factor in consumer choice, this inconsistency could not be allowed to persist.

Colour consistency is important when producing large volumes of mouthwash. Image Credit: Flickr User Jae-sun Gim (CC BY 2.0)

Transmission Spectrophotometers Offer Reliable, Objective Colour Analysis

As a result, manufacturers have turned to spectrophotometers, objective colour analysis instruments, to measure their mouthwash. These instruments report colour results numerically, and their results are precise. This prevents any inconsistently colored batches from leaving the vat. Not every spectrophotometer measures colour in the same way, which is why you should use a transmission spectrophotometer to accurately measures transparent liquids like mouthwash.

With over six decades of experience developing spectrophotometers for transparent liquids, HunterLab has engineered a series of solutions ideal for the mouthwash industry. For companies that only manufacture transparent liquids, like mouthwash, and wish to save space in their laboratory the Vista colour and haze transmission spectrophotometer is a sound colour measurement solution. Much smaller than earlier spectrophotometers, and more affordable, Vista is a top-of-the-line solution for transmission colour analysis. For companies testing the colour of mouthwash and other opaque liquids or solids, the UltraScan series of spectrophotometers is capable of reflectance and transmittance measurement. While larger than Vista, UltraScan spectrophotometers eliminate the need for a separate instrument to test the colour quality of the company’s opaque products. To learn more about which instrument would be ideal for your production process, contact our friendly, professional sales force today.