This is the text for questions 1-6.
Different Colours can affect us in many different ways; that’s according to Verity Allen. In her new series ‘Colour me Healthy’, Verity looks at the ways that colours can influence how hard we work and the choices we make. They can even change our emotions and even influence how healthy we are.
‘Have you ever noticed how people always use the same colours for the same things?’ says Verity. ‘Our toothpaste is always white or blue or maybe red. It’s never green. Why not? For some reason we think that blue and white is clean, while we think of green products as being a bit disgusting. It’s the same for businesses. We respect a company which writes its name in blue or black, but we don’t respect one that uses pink or orange. People who design new products can use these ideas to influence what we buy.’
During this four-part series, Verity studies eight different colours, two colours in each programme. She meets people who work in all aspects of the colour industry, from people who design food packets, to people who name the colours of lipsticks. Some of the people she meets clearly have very little scientific knowledge to support their ideas, such as the American ‘Colour Doctor’ who believes that serious diseases can be cured by the use of coloured lights. However, she also interviews real scientists who are studying the effects of green and red lights on mice, with some surprising results.
Overall, it’s an interesting show, and anyone who watches it will probably find out something new. But because Verity is goes out of her way to be polite to everyone she meets on the series, it’s up to the viewers to make their own decisions about how much they should believe.