Criticized for killing off napkins, casual dining, bars of soap and diamonds, there’s little we can’t blame on Millennials these days. Now lingering between 22 years old – 37 years old, you may be surprised to find America’s favorite freeloaders are a lot older, and less of an actual freeloader then you may have thought.
Just like every generation before, Millennials are under constant watch for their taste towards craft beers, local businesses and political tilts. What they aren’t responsible for, yet seem to get full credit for, is the overabundance of the color pink taking over decor, home design and technology.
Technically Pantone, the color standardization company, choose rose quartz as the color of the year in 2016. Now two years later, we are seeing Millennial pink seeping throughout every instagram feed, decor magazine and more.
It’s known that colors are a powerful communication tool and the psychology of color can have a profound impact on the people who experience them. The actual impact of colors vary from person to person and millennials as a whole are no more or less likely to be impacted by the color pink then they are to feel soothed in a room painted with blue.
In the 1970’s a biosocial researcher named Alexander Schauss experimented with a color called Baker-Miller Pink. Schauss believed that the color impacted hormone production and experimented by painting prison cells pink and observing the behavior of prisoners. The hue showed initially to lower blood pressure and aggressive behavior but was ultimately inconclusive if the color itself had had a long-term impact on human behavior.
Traditionally pink is tiered to female qualities and has been used for decades to gender products that would otherwise be completely gender neutral in their use. As millennial parents have strived to eschew traditional gender designations, the color has become more prevalent outside the nursery.
Millennial pink is is described as a muted tone that is more robust than pastels, slightly less pink than salmon and more pink than rose.
With pink foods, pink decor and pink clothing, all the rage, what is it that drives Millennials towards this hue? Does it actually make people feel better, or is it a hailing back to childhood memories of when life was easy going and bill free.
If anyone can be blamed for the pink washing of society, it’s the marketers who design ads, choose the seasons color palettes and perfectly style every instagram photo on La Croix, Kate Spade and Essie.
We didn’t have a Gen X Black and we probably won’t have a Gen Z Teal so why is Millennial Pink a trend that we continue to talk about? Is the problem that Millennials and their supposedly flighty ways are the easy scapegoat for every failing business, political uprising and now overdone color palette? With the oldest Millennials approaching their 40s, is it fair to continue to ball the whole group of Millennials together as man bun wearing, unicorn frappuccino drinking, no-real job freeloaders living in their parents basements [apparently in a light pink painted room]? Probably not.
Unfortunately, it’s going to take a while for the train that is all the entitled things Millennials are credited with to wash away. In the meanwhile, let’s sit back, drink a glass of rose and see what else Millennials will be attributed with.
