Pantone has announced its much anticipated Colour of the Year for 2025: Mocha Mousse.
The shade is also known as Pantone 17-1230, and has been described as a “warming, brown hue imbued with richness”.
Pantone has used this title to declare its colour predictions for the following year since 1999, as the "global colour authority and provider of professional colour language standards".
The colour selected is by the company using its preferences and overarching trends, and usually finds itself splashed across design and fashion in the months after the declaration.
However, this year's pick of the warm light brown shade has created division, along with pushback against the decision to allegedly use AI for the promotional social media posts.
“No budget to pay an artist (the folks that actually use Pantone) for your once-a-year launch video?” Instagram user eviltwinnails commented on the official launch post.
Another commenter, jerirart, echoed the sentiment writing, “You’re telling me you’re giving us this dull colour AND an ai generated video? Give us a break. Enough with the horrors.”
After a later corrected mistype in the original caption the official page for Merriam-Webster Dictionary also piled on, correcting “mousse =🍫, moose = 🫎".
Instagram user jasmynejay was in support of the colour however, commenting that it brought back a “very 70s vibe which…socially was a lot of self-expression, standing on business, and empowerment."
A fellow commenter, brandons_baked agreed, calling the colour, “a solid neutral, peaceful and grounding. I think we might need some of this energy in the coming years”.