Crayola's new pack of crayons reflects multicultural skin tones

On 21 May, the UN World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, the arts and crafts company announced its new Colors of the World crayons, 24 new specially formulated crayons designed to mirror and represent over 40 global skin tones across the world.

To ensure the new range was developed to reflect an accurate and inclusive skin tone palette, Crayola said it not only conducted rigorous consumer testing, but also partnered with Victor Casale, former chief chemist and managing director R&D of MAC cosmetics and current co-founder and CEO of MOB beauty.

For more than eight months, Crayola's research & development and marketing teams collaborated with Casale to bring the Colors of the World crayons to life, modeling his scientific process for developing inclusive foundation shades. Casale and Crayola systematically created crayon colours that step down from light to deep shades across rose, almond and golden undertones, resulting in a global shade palette that reflects the full spectrum of human complexions.

"Growing up, I remember mixing the pink and dark brown crayons to try and make my shade, so I was thrilled when Crayola asked for my help to create the Colors of the World crayons," commented Casale.

The crayon packs feature side panels that serve as colour references and each crayon is wrapped in a gradient skin tone label with the colour name in English, Spanish and French, and purposefully has a realistic colour name – such as Light Golden, Deep Almond and Medium Deep Rose – all to help kids easily find the shade they identify as their own.

"With the world growing more diverse than ever before, Crayola hopes our new Colors of the World crayons will increase representation and foster a greater sense of belonging and acceptance," says Crayola CEO Rich Wuerthele. "We want the new Colors of the World crayons to advance inclusion within creativity and impact how kids express themselves."

Crayola Colors of the World crayons will be available in the United States, exclusively at Walmart.