If you’ve ever seen the little colored boxes that are printed up the crimped end of a toothpaste tube and thought to yourself… “Huh, what’s that about?” — you’re not alone. For years, there have been theories surrounding the colored boxes on toothpaste and what they mean.

Some think that the colors signify if the product is natural or full of chemicals. Others believe that they are a secret code known only to the manufacturers. But the reality is — there’s nothing mysterious going on — just packaging science.

These are called printer’s color blocks (or registration marks). They serve a simple but vital function in the packaging process.

When toothpaste packaging is printed, it’s not done in one layer. But several layers of ink (usually a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). The colored boxes simply have a role as an aligned guide. They ensure that the desired colors end up aligned on the final product.

During production at high speeds, machines will read the colored marks and sensors will use them to make sure everything is sharp, straight and accurate. The color blocks are not to identify quality of ingredients, but quality control for the packaging.

You Can Find it on the Internet

Despite the fact that the colored boxes and marks have been debunked so many times, there are still myths floating around the internet saying:

Green means “all natural”

Blue means “medicinal”

Red means mix of natural ingredients and chemicals

Black means “all chemical”

You have to admit, these conspiracy theories are kind of entertaining; however none of them are true. The fact is, on toothpaste packaging, the colored boxes were used as color block respect from the colors to match the design of the packaging.

A Peep into Printing History

In a way, the colored boxes represent an analogue piece of printing history. Before digital was a part of printing, printers relied on marks like these, as visual references to do their jobs accurately. Now printing is so automated, that we are stocked in our own computer based world – but in perhaps we still are keeping the tradition and function of a color block boxes consistently.

So, the next time you are brushing your teeth, and browsing your toothpaste tube, you’ll know the truth. There’s no warning or notes for you. Their destination was for the packaging just as an unseen detail to fulfill its purpose of intended objectives for how toothpaste packaging should look.

It’s kind of amazing that a mark so small can still share a piece of printing in history, isn’t it?