Crayola is a brand of crayons and other writing and drawing utensils, such as

markers, chalk, and colored pencils manufactured by Binney & Smith, Inc. The
Crayola company was one of the first to make its crayons, chalk, markers, and
colored pencils as well as other writing utensils and artistry tools non-toxic.
It is primarily popular in the United States, Canada, Australia, Guatemala and the
United Kingdom and many other countries.

Crayola logo 2002-present

Crayola past logo, 1996-2002

HISTORY
Crayola Crayons were invented by cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith.
Binney's wife Alice coined the word "Crayola" by combining the French word for
chalk (craie) and the "olea" part of "oleaginous" (oily).
The first box of Binney & Smith crayons, produced in 1903, sold for a nickel and
contained eight colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black.
While it was widely known that the 8 count box was the box they initially sold
their crayons in, they carried a full line of boxes in different sizes and colors for
many uses. Each box used a numbering system to identify them. In reality they
had around 20 different crayon box offerings. They ranged from the Rubens
Crayola No. 6 which was targeted for artists to the No. 51, which contained 28
colors. Many of these colors, such as English Vermillion, Venetian Red,
Permanent Magenta and Van Dyke Brown are no longer produced by Crayola.
Crayola's earliest years had around 38 different colors across their product line.
They expanded this in 1926 with the acquisition of the Munsell color line. In the
1930s they put out a rare compilation of 52 colors in a box. By this time they had
done a lot of renaming and color adjustments. In 1949, they did more color
reorganization by introducing the box of 48 colors still sold today. Unfortunately,
Crayola only recognizes a couple of very specific color name changes in their
history. These include the change in 1958 when the name Prussian Blue was
changed to Midnight Blue in response to requests from teachers. In the same year
additional crayons were added, expanding the selection to 64 colors. New colors
included Copper, Plum, Lavender, Mulberry, Burnt Orange, Aquamarine and ten
other colors.
In 1962, Binney & Smith chose to change the name Flesh to Peach in response to
the Civil Rights Movement, since not all people are the same skin color. While
this is accurate, in reality, Crayola had changed this color from its original 1903
'Flesh Tint' to Flesh then temporarily to 'Pink Beige', back to Flesh and then

finally to Peach. In 1999, the name Indian Red was changed to Chestnut because
children wrongly perceived the color to be that of Native Americans, when in fact
"Indian Red" had its roots in a dye from India. There have been numerous other
name changes undocumented but just as real. Van Dyke Brown changed to plain
Brown. Madder Lake changed to Dark Red. Rose Pink eventually became
Carnation Pink. Charcoal Gray became Neutral Gray and then finally just Gray.
There are many other examples of this throughout their history.
In 1972, eight bright, neon crayons were added: Chartreuse, Ultra Blue, Ultra
Orange, Ultra Red, Hot Magenta, Ultra Green, Ultra Pink, and Ultra Yellow.
In 1990 only the name Hot Magenta stayed and the other names were replaced by:
Atomic Tangerine, Outrageous Orange, Shocking Pink, Blizzard Blue, Laser
Lemon, Screamin' Green, and Wild Watermelon. Eight additional fluorescents
were added: Electric Lime, Purple Pizzazz, Razzle Dazzle Rose, Unmellow
Yellow, Magic Mint, Radical Red, Sunglow, and Neon Carrot.
In 1990 Crayola did some promotional work to formally retire eight colors and
replace them with eight new shades. While these might be the first official retired
colors, there have been many other colors not recognized as such over the years.
Nevertheless, the retired colors enshrined in the Crayola Hall of Fame included:
Green Blue, Orange Red, Orange Yellow, Violet Blue, Maize, Lemon Yellow,
Blue Gray and Raw Umber. Colors added were Cerulean, Vivid Tangerine, Jungle
Green, Fuchsia, Dandelion, Teal Blue, Royal Purple, and Wild Strawberry.
Consumers named 16 new colors in 1993, bringing the total to 96. New colors
included Asparagus, Macaroni and Cheese, Razzmatazz, Timber Wolf, Cerise,
Mauvelous, Robin's Egg Blue, Tropical Rain Forest, Denim, Pacific Blue,
Shamrock, Tumbleweed, Granny Smith Apple, Purple Mountain's Majesty, Tickle
Me Pink, and Wisteria.
Magic Scents Crayons was a line of Crayola crayons that were scented. Binney &
Smith Inc. introduced them in 1994 with mostly food scents. There were
numerous reports that children were eating the food-scented crayons, so the food
scents were retired and replaced with non-food scents, which later evolved into
Color 'N Smell in 1997. Crayola stopped producing scented crayons until a new
line called Silly Scents in 2007.
In 1998, 24 new colors were added, bringing the total to 120. The names
continued to evolve, with colors like Pink Flamingo, Caribbean Green, Fuzzy
Wuzzy Brown, Purple Heart, Banana Mania, Cotton Candy, Manatee, Outer
Space, Shadow, Pig Pink, Vivid Violet, and Mountain Meadow. Thistle was retired
from the 120-count assortment in 2000 to make room for Indigo, and Torch Red
was renamed Scarlet.
Crayola marked their 100th birthday by having consumers again name new colors
and vote four out: Blizzard Blue, Magic Mint, Mulberry, and Teal Blue made way
for Inch Worm, Jazzberry Jam, Mango Tango, and Wild Blue Yonder. There are
many places around the world that can be visited to learn more about all the many
colors there are, one being the Crayola Factory near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Each year, Binney & Smith produces 3 billion crayons.

On January 1, 2007, Binney & Smith, maker of Crayola crayons and markers,
became Crayola LLC, reflecting the company's No. 1 brand and its fast-forward,
innovative direction. The company is now informally known as Crayola.
This organizational and name change showcases the company's Crayola brand,
sold by Binney Binney & Smith since 1903. The Crayola name has 99%
recognition among U.S. consumer households, is sold in more than 80 different
countries and represents innovation, fun, kids and quality. The change also
promotes and reflects the company's new direction with consumers, customers,
suppliers, employees and others audience

Crayola colors
crayola crayon packs have come in a variety of sizes from 2 crayons up to 800 for
the bulk boxes. The colors contained in a package have ranged from 2 up to 200
(although a 200 color package includes "special effect" crayons such as glitters or
neons, etc.). In general, though, the most common packages are multiples of eight:
8, 16, 24, 32, (40), 48, (56), 64, 72, 80, (88), 96, (104), (112), and 120 packs. The
120 pack is sometimes a package composed of two 48 pack containers and a 24
pack container. There have been 240 pack Crayola Cases that simply house two of
the 120 crayon cases, although limited a number of these have been produced
since 2005.

Here are the colors in the 8, 16, and 24 packs as of 2005 (color values are
approximate):
8 pack
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Violet (purple)
Brown
Black

+8 = 16 pack +8 = 24 pack
Carnation Pink Violet Red
Red Orange
Scarlet
Yellow Orange Dandelion
Yellow Green Green Yellow
Blue Green
Cerulean
Blue Violet
Indigo
Red Violet
Apricot
White
Gray

Popular culture

Crayola Monologues is an animated video about label changes

The band Lemon Demon produced a song, "Ode to Crayola," which

praises the company and the variety of crayon colors.

Kristen Andreassen, an independent country music artist, wrote and

recorded a song entitled, "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes" in
which the narrator goes through several shades of blue, green, and brown
trying to draw the subject of the song. It contains the line, "That crayon's
telling lies," a reference to Crayola's claim to make colors for everything.

Crayola Monologues is an animated video that uses Crayola crayons as a

human metaphor for exploring color and identity in the United States. This
animated video features crayons expressing how color hierarchies have
shaped their lives.

X-Entertainment has a satirical article in which Spider-Man reviews every

color in a box of 96 Crayola-crayons.

In the Simpsons episode HOM, when Moe is going to put a crayon on

Homer's brain, he says that this proceeding is called "The ol' Crayola
oblongata".