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Looking at this ugly color is certainly off-putting.
By Caithlin Pena — Last updated on Apr 07, 2023
Let's be totally honest with ourselves: not all colors are beautiful. This is the absolute truth and if someone admits to liking every single color, they'll be getting side-eye for a while.
While there are some colors that just plainly aren't appealing, there is one color, in particular, that has been dubbed the ugliest color in the world. That's quite a title (someone call the Guinness World Records stat).
Something like gray might be considered an ugly color, or maybe brown. Army Green is probably up there, too; however, those colors don't even come close to having the same (lack of) appeal as this one color.
However, the world's ugliest color is also helping people break quite a bad habit.
What is the world’s ugliest color?
This color that invokes such a shocking amount of disgust is Pantone 448 C, also known as "opaque couche." It's a mix of a brown and greenish color, one that makes you instantly think of something rotting.
Take a look at it below.
According to researchers, this color, "has the power to 'minimize appeal' and 'maximize perceived harm.'"
Words associated with it are, "dirty," "tar," and even "death."
That’s when you know it’s a color that can gross out even the toughest of researchers if they're thinking of death when looking at it.
How is Pantone 448 C helping smokers quit?
So how does that make you feel? As it turns out, this color actually has a special mission. It's used to discourage smoking! And we have the Australian government to thank for that.
In 2012, they hired GfK Bluemoon, a research agency, to create a new design for tobacco products. But instead of encouraging people to buy the products, they wanted people to not buy them at all.
And they wanted to ensure this by making the packaging as ugly as possible.
Three months, seven studies, and a thousand regular smokers later, they discovered that this opaque couche color is the most unappealing of the bunch.
They even nicknamed it "drab dark brown." Also included on the list were lime green, white, gray, and even dark brown. It became so effective that even Ireland, the U.K., and France started to follow in their footsteps.
Smoking is an unhealthy and gross habit. Not only does it lead to life-threatening diseases, such as lung cancer, but it's also a great danger to the environment and can even destroy your relationships.
If the world turns away from smoking, it would be a much cleaner, greener, and healthier place to live in overall. And it's all thanks to the ugliest color in the world.
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Caithlin Pena is an editor and former contributor for YourTango. Her work has been featured on Thought Catalog, Huffington Post, Yahoo, Psych Central, and BRIDES.