Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2026 branded ‘tone-deaf’ and ‘boring’: ‘Is the color in the room with us?’

Company picked milky shade of white for the first time in the 26 years of its annual selection

Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2026 (Pantone/PA)

Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2026 has proven oddly divisive after the company picked a “billowy and balanced” shade of white for the first time in its annual selection.

The color called “Cloud Dancer” — the same shade as milk, a pair of AirPods or a blank sheet of paper — is said to represent the collective sense that society is “craving respite, less noise, less fun, more simplicity” and an opportunity to embrace a “fresh start.”

But when the shade was revealed on Thursday, onlookers were disappointed with the “boring” and “colorless color” with one person responding on Instagram: “Is color in the room with us?”

“Go girl, give us nothing,” said another. “You guys can redo this and pick an actual color. Please and thank you.”

“So....white. I guess we're all feeling completely uninspired these days,” chimed another person.

Pantone announced its shade for 2026 as ‘Cloud Dancer’

Others interpreted the color selection as something more dystopian, with some branding it as “rage bait” and even suggesting the shade was politically loaded in the context of far-right white nationalism.

One comment, which has received more than 1,000 likes, claimed that the color selection was “painfully tone-deaf” at a time “when white supremacy is resurfacing loudly in national leadership and policy.”

Others argued that the concept was being overanalyzed, with one person responding: “Sometimes a color, however threatening it may appear to the terminally online, is just a color,” they said.

The Independent has contacted Pantone for comment.

Pantone has chosen a new color each year since 1999 to forecast the zeitgeist for the upcoming year.

This is what Pantone’s iconic mug will look like for 2026’s Color of the Year (Pantone/PA)

Announcing the color choice, Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, said that the choice reflects how 2026 will be a “transitional time.”

“People are questioning everything: what we believe, how we want to live, where we want to live,” she said.

Executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, Leatrice Eiseman, said Cloud Dancer is “imbued with serenity — a calming influence in a frenetic society.”

Pantone color of the year is intended to be a representation of what we’re wearing, how we’re feeling and how we’re styling our homes. Last year’s pick was the light brown shade “Mocha Mousse”, which turned out to be a popular color in fashion this year. For 2024, a light peach color was chosen to represent “our desire to nurture ourselves and others.”