Pantone 448 C
 
About these coordinates     Colour coordinates
Hex triplet#4A412A
sRGBB (r, g, b)(74, 65, 42)
HSV (h, s, v)(43°, 43%, 29%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(28, 17, 67°)
SourcePantone[1]
ISCC–NBS descriptorDark grayish olive
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Pantone 448 C is a colour in the Pantone colour system. Described as a drab dark brown and informally dubbed the "ugliest colour in the world", it was selected in 2012 as the colour for plain tobacco and cigarette packaging in Australia, after market researchers determined that it was the least attractive colour.[2][3][4][5]

A used plain cigarette packet from Belgium

The Australian Department of Health initially referred to the colour as "olive green", but the name was changed after concerns were expressed by the Australian Olive Association.[6]

Since 2016, the same colour has also been used for plain cigarette packaging in many countries, including Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Israel, Norway, New Zealand, Slovenia, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Thailand, Singapore, Turkey, Belgium, and the Netherlands.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

The colour has also been widely but erroneously reported as being known as "opaque couché";[13][14] in fact this is simply French for "layered opaque", in reference to being used on coated paper. The confusion may have arisen because "Pantone opaque couché" is the French name of a swatch library (palette) used in Adobe Illustrator containing this colour and intended for printing in solid ink colours on coated paper; in English this library is known as "Pantone solid coated".[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "PANTONE 448 C - find a PANTONE Color". www.pantone.com. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  2. ^ "Tobacco Plain Packaging Regulations 2011". Australian Government Federal Register of Legislation. 8 August 2013. 2.2.1 (2) & passim. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  3. ^ "This is the world's ugliest colour, according to experts". Evening Standard. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016. N.B. As of 29 March 2018, the image there erroneously shows colour #5D4914, rather than #4A412A.
  4. ^ "Researchers discover the ugliest color in the world: Pantone 448 C". Digital Trends. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016. N.B. As of 2018-03-29, the image there erroneously shows colour #4D442E, rather than #4A412A.
  5. ^ "Does this colour turn you off?". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2016. N.B. As of 2018-03-29, the image there erroneously shows colour #594A13, rather than #4A412A.
  6. ^ "Does this colour turn you off?" by Rachel Wells, The Age, 17 August 2012
  7. ^ "Smoke-free Environments Regulations 2017 (LI 2017/123) – New Zealand Legislation". www.legislation.govt.nz. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  8. ^ "The world's ugliest colour has been revealed". The Independent. 11 June 2016. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2016. N.B. As of 2018-03-29, the image there shows the correct colour.
  9. ^ "This new law could save your life". The Independent. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016. N.B. As of 2018-03-29, this article has no image of the pure colour.
  10. ^ "Historical Revolution: The Economics Committee approved for the second and third reading the proposal to ban advertising of smoking products". Knesset (in Hebrew). 18 December 2018.[dead link]
  11. ^ "New Regulation on Supervision and Labelling of Tobacco Products: Plain Packaging in Turkey". Lexology. 24 January 2020.
  12. ^ "Standardised Packaging Guidance Booklet 标准化包装册子" (PDF). Health Promotion Board, Singapore.
  13. ^ Ferrier, Morwenna (8 June 2016). "Stylewatch: Is Pantone 448C really the ugliest colour in the world?". the Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  14. ^ Pathak, Sophia (7 June 2016). "This is the world's ugliest colour, according to experts". Evening Standard. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
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