Pantone, best known for its color-naming system that’s used in various industries like fashion, graphic design, and printing, is an influence for artists globally. They announced on December 4th, 2025, that the 2026 Color of the Year would be a billowy shade of white named ‘Cloud Dancer,’ described as having balanced hints of warm and cool tones. Despite the fact that Pantone has said this color was meant to represent a fresh start and calm moods, this specific shade of white has sparked a colorful controversy surrounding the idea of Pantone being tone deaf to present circumstances.
“If I were to make a color for 2026, I want it to be something bright and vibrant,” senior at Central High School, Violet Abzug said. “More like neon colored because right now what we’re heading towards is not towards peace or unity, and I think a little bit of punk and chaos are probably what’s gonna be happening.”
Executive Director for Pantone, Leatrice Elseman, stated on Pantone’s website that, “The cacophony that surrounds us has become overwhelming, making it harder to hear the voices of our inner selves. A conscious statement of simplification, Cloud Dancer enhances our focus, providing release from the distraction of external influences.”
However, when Pantone announced the color of the year on Instagram, users responded with comments such as, “This is worse than unseasoned chicken, what is wrong with u pantone.” Another commenter said, “Toilet paper was the inspiration,” and “ohh like straight jacket white.” Even following the release of Cloud Dancer, these creatively worded comments continue on many of Pantone’s posts.
Vanity Fair responded with an article written by José Criales-Unzeta, “The whole thing sounds like it was lifted from a late-night show comedy skit. After a year of efforts by the Trump administration and corporations to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, alongside aggressive immigration crackdowns, it feels bold, and dare I say out of touch, to utter the words ‘white is the color of 2026.'”
“I think it’s very tone deaf and Pantone doesn’t really understand the racial issues constantly emerging since 2020,” Lucky Hennigan said. “ It feels like the reemergence of Sydney Sweeney into the media is really bland with how the world is right now.”
In July of 2025, American Eagle released an ad featuring actress Sydney Sweeney that promoted jeans. She claimed in the ad that she had great genes, which sparked a debate on American Eagle promoting eugenics, a concept mainly supported by white supremacists who claim pale skin and light eyes are the superior genes. This ad resulted in similar backlash from the media, pointing at both companies for implying whiteness is superior. Although American Eagle’s connection from race to genes is different from Pantone’s clear choice of white for the year 2026, both seem to support the current events revolving around a lack of equality in the United States.
In past years, Pantone has chosen more neutral colors. In 2021, for example, Pantone chose Ultimate Grey but added Illuminating Yellow as a secondary color. An earlier example of this was from 2016, where two colors were also chosen: a baby blue called Serenity and a baby pink named Rose Quartz.
“I think that they’re trying to stay intentionally neutral because of the political climate, and they don’t want to make commentary like they previously were, so they’re choosing vomiting obviously neutral,” Bea Murphy, a junior at Central High School, said. “I think like, taking a neutral stance right now, at this time, is kinda saying you’re okay with whatever.”
A global team of experts team up to choose the color of the year, from films to paintings, many areas of art, socioeconomic conditions, sports, and relevant media are all taken into account for this influential choice. This decision from Pantone’s color research team was either a direct blow to today’s activism, or Pantone is remarkably ignorant of the political status of the world currently.
