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In the Pink: The Secret Wall Color for Dropping Pounds and Calming Down

If you occasionally (and we do hope occasionally) find yourself thinking, “Boy, those Kardashians just need to calm down a bit,” we have some good news for you.

Kendall Jenner, the model and oft-overlooked sister of Kylie, is making waves of her own with her proud and enthusiastic endorsement of … a Pepto-Bismol-like paint color in one of her rooms. She insists that the color, called Baker-Miller Pink—and, by some, “Drunk Tank Pink” (more on that later)—has profound psychological and physical benefits.

And weirdly enough, she’s not alone.

“Baker-Miller Pink is the only color scientifically proven to calm you AND suppress your appetite,” Jenner explained on the Kendall Jenner Official App. Once she heard about the hue through friends, she told her fans, “I was like, ‘I NEED this color in my house!’”

This past Christmas, up went an Instagram shot of her tree against a freshly painted backdrop of what was promptly dubbed her “skinny wall.”

Er, yuck. We can see why this color might kill your appetite.

But it turns out that Jenner wasn’t entirely wrong about the science behind this perplexing tone.

Giving prisons a pink makeover

This particular shade of pink has long been purported to have a tranquilizing effect and reduce aggressive behavior. The first person to theorize this was Alexander Schauss, a psychologist who, in the late 1960s, came upon the work of Swiss psychiatrist Max Luscher, who believed that color preferences could explain one’s personality. After testing different colors on himself, Schauss in 1978 landed on a specific variation of pink that seemed to lower his heart rate merely by staring at it.

He decided to put the color to a real test. Schauss persuaded the Naval Correctional Facility in Seattle to slather the hue he dubbed “P-618” onto the walls of a holding cell used to contain inmates during intake, when they’re usually prone to violent outbreaks. The result: “There have been no incidents of erratic or hostile behavior during the initial phase of confinement,” Schauss wrote in a journal article. The color was officially dubbed “Baker-Miller” after the two wardens of the prison.

Several additional studies were held at jails and prisons, but subsequent results were mixed at best. Nonetheless a new nickname was eventually born: “Drunk Tank Pink.”

Experts such as Adam Alter, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at New York University, believe the jury is still out on the tone’s calming impact.

“Some researchers have found it, but others have struggled to replicate it,” says Alter. But he suggests two main reasons why some feel chilled out by the color.

“Some have suggested that there’s something specific about the wavelength,” he says. But just as likely is the fact that “we associate pink with femininity, which, given prevailing gender stereotypes, might prime calmness rather than aggression.”

It’s little wonder others over the years have found strategic uses for pink. Most notorious is the University of Iowa’s football program, which in 1979 covered everything in the visitor’s locker room in Kinnick Stadium—walls, floors, lockers, sinks, and even urinals—in a very P-618-like shade of pink. Was this an attempt to sedate the opposition or merely an intimidation tactic? You could say it was a bit of both.

Should you paint your walls Drunk Tank Pink, too?

In 2015 clothing company Vollebak designed the Baker Miller Relaxation Hoodie, complete with full zip-up hood, asymmetrical pockets, and built-in soundtrack called “pink noise” that’s said to induce the kind of brainwaves you would experience during meditation. Host Jimmy Fallon tested the garment on “The Tonight Show.”

Jenner learned about the magic of Drunk Tank Pink from her pals who saw it displayed as part of an art exhibit at the former Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center. The installation featured a kitchen covered in the color, as well as over 200 other works by 86 artists.

Kardashian obsessives are hoping that Baker-Miller can bring some much-needed Zen to Jenner, who’s recently opened up about her struggles with anxiety and panic attacks.

“I once had a really bad attack on a plane and just had to ride it out,” Jenner recounted on her app. “I felt my heart beating a million miles an hour and I even went a little numb.”

So should you do like Jenner and start painting key parts of your home in P-618? Despite her raves, scientists remain dubious.

“Based on what we know right now, I’d say it isn’t worth it,” says Alter.

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