Red Dye

“Pick your poison!”

• A phrase dating back 150 years, apparently referring to choosing a cocktail

Since 1906, we haven’t been able to pick our poison in the case of Red Dye #3.

Now, before you think I’ve (further) lost my mind, bear with me. There’s a point here, hopefully Diff Worthy.

Red Dye #3 has been outlawed by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). It’s made from petroleum products and has been in most of what I ate from 1962 until, well, recently, seein’s how I’m trying to eat more better lately.

Look up “erythrosine.” (Never mind, I just did it for you…) That’s Red Dye #3’s birth name.

The point here is that we should consider the effects of what we sell beyond where we make the sale.

And we ought to disclose them. And not on page 61 of a 90-page disclosure document.

“This derivative investment has way more risk than your certificate of deposit, but you ain’t gonna retire on that CD, unless you start on a Red Dye #3-only diet.”

“This software hasn’t been tested widely yet, but if you give it a go as a “Beta Client,” wow, will we cut you a deal! Oh, the privacy and cybersecurity concerns? We’ll let the attorneys figure that out!”

“This electric car battery consumes about a bajillion units of eleventy-three different chemicals, resources and “stuff” which put out enough CFCs to single-handedly make the hole in the ozone ginormous.”

The potentially harmful things in what we sell shouldn’t be disclosed on page 61 of a 90-page disclosure document. If we’re building the kind of relationships we want with Clients and customers, we ought to trust ourselves and them enough to pull a Paul Harvey out of our hat and give them the rest of the story. Up front. Before the sale.

^{Editor’s Note: If the internet was really good, you could look up my late red-haired buddy Michael “Jick” “Red” Dye from the 1980s, but for now, we’ll focus on the petroleum-based stuff in all sorts o’ food. How’s THAT for a digression?}