Crayola Announces Its "Colors Of The World" Crayons To Promote "Inclusion Within Creativity"

Every kid of color goes through it. You want to draw a picture of you or another person and the exact skin tone you need may not be available. For example, Black people (like me) boast an array of melanated epidermal hues, but most of the time, the only color available in the crayon pack is regular brown. I imagine that Hispanic and Asian kids also go through the struggle of finding a crayon with the proper color of their skin. It appears that those days are numbered. Crayon manufacturing giant Crayola announced its new "Colors of the World" set to help promote inclusion. "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," Crayola CEO Rich Wuerthele said in the official press release. "We want the new Colors of the World crayons to advance inclusion within creativity and impact how kids express themselves."

For this release, Crayola partnered with Victor Casale, who possesses over 30 years in creating foundation colors for global skin tones. Currently, Casale is CEO of MOB Beauty and in the past he has served as Chief Chemist and Managing Director, R&D of MAC Cosmetics and co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Cover FX. "I have spent my life trying to create truly global shade palettes because I know what it's like to be with a person who has finally found their exact match. They feel included and recognized, and I am hoping every child who uses these crayons and finds their shade will have that feeling," expressed Casale. "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."

The new Crayolas come in a set of 24 new specially formulated crayons “designed to mirror and represent over 40 global skin tones across the world.” The set was designed to coincide with UN World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (May 21). A color reference chart with intentional names such as Light Golden, Deep Almond, and Medium Deep Rose is available on the side of the box.

In addition to the 24-count box, a 32-count box will be available exclusively through Walmart that includes four eye colors and four hair colors. Also, Walmart will be pumping a Crayola’s 48-page Colors of the World Coloring & Activity Book so that kids can put all the colors to use.

The crayons will not be available until July, it appears. You can sign up for an alert that will notify you when the set becomes available. The exclusive Walmart 32-count set and Colors of the World Coloring & Activity book are available for preorder.

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