Pretty Visuals Trump Text — Even If It Kills

We all should know by now that the Picture Superior Effect is real, and that people respond to, process and remember imagery far better than text. But a story about a toxic swimming hole which is getting some renewed attention right now proves that no matter what the text says, some people just insist on believing in the pretty picture. 

So, apparently there was a quarry in the UK that was a magnificent shade of turquoise...

The water so was so beautiful that some people refused to heed the clear textual warnings that the water was actually highly toxic and dangerous...

And they went swimming. And got sick. Very sick. Apparently the PH level in the "blue lagoon" is equal to that of bleach. Yech.

So what did the town do? If people were only going to let their sense of aesthetics guide their decisions, then that's the way it was going to be. The town died the lagoon black!

The Picture Superiority Effect rules again!