There's a couple of reasons why. None of them are particularly pleasing.
For one, it costs more money to dye the plastic or paint/anodize the metal. Everyone except children are going to buy the product based on function or need and companies have determined that the colour has no outsized effect on which one they choose. So it's cheaper to use basic black plastic and unpainted metal.
The other is that for things like cars and furniture there's a resale factor. A car is a big investment, and you want as much money as possible to put towards the purchase of the next one. A bright colour like yellow might make you happy while you own it, but it will be difficult to sell to other people as it's a very loud and ostentatious colour. It's the same with furniture and home architecture. '70s patterns in carpet will reduce the resale value of a house because few people will be willing to adapt their furniture to match.
For corporate environments it's about ease of repurposing the space and to be the least bit disruptive to where they're doing business. It'd cost a lot of money to remodel all the old red steel roof McDonald's if that lot were ever sold. In fact there are plenty of gable roof Pizza Huts that just got repainted after they were sold because remodeling the building cost too much money. McDonald's trend towards grey earth tones using metal and stone is so they can fit into big cities these days, especially in Europe and Asia. The coffeehouse aesthetic that Starbucks pioneered has proven especially attractive in those markets, and other companies are following suit by trying to use that same look to blend into modern five over ones and block highrises.
> For one, it costs more money to dye the plastic or paint/anodize the metal.
Ironically, I suspect the reason is exactly the opposite: that colour is now essentially free compared to grey/muted. I certainly don't think people are buying grey carpets, on balance, because it's cheaper.
It used to be that it was difficult to colour things significantly. In the long distant past, you can think of "royal purple" being so expensive that only the real elite have access to it. In early 20th century, that's no longer exactly the case but still I would expect colour fabric is somewhat expensive, so it's still the preserve of a richer class. When it become accessible in the mid 20th century, it becomes popular as people still think of it as being more premium. Finally, another generation comes along that doesn't think of deep colour as being a premium product (because everyone has it) and either rebels or just evaluates it on its actual merit.
None of the above is backed with any actual evidence. But that's certainly how elite clothing has progressed i.e. why world leaders wear grey suits today instead of elaborate coloured gowns.
> you can think of "royal purple" being so expensive that only the real elite have access to it.
Depends on the timeframe, those Purple Islands shellfish were juicy at the very beginning, I think got selectively bred (by accident) to have very very little purple. Purple was originally a substance, like cocaine or gold or blue paint. Later got called purple dye. At the beginning there was no other purple anything anywhere (porphyry marble but that's different, and not the same shade, same root though).
Not even the elite, the king and maybe his family too. Elites wore red, Patrician (one of the meanings, it's a double entendre) is those who wore red. During the Republic wearing purple was a death wish. Caesar I think didn't refuse fast enough at one point, something like that. Then during the Empire--I think right away--purple was back. At least in porphyry it was back. I think in clothes and perhaps statue paint? Late Empire it was by far the most expensive substance. Like a pound of silk dyed purple was worth twelve people's lives.
And there were different shades, not like now where it's like what's the RGB hex of that color squirt squirt squirt here it is, #123456, or #abcdef. It's not the real deal.
Yes, and nowadays we associate bright colors more and more with ads screaming at us for attention. This makes these colors feel cheap and tasteless, you don't want to look like an ad
I'd posit that the real cost is the cost of carrying more inventory. It's cheaper to carry 200 in beige than 100 in each of 10 colours. It means you're less likely to be out of the colour the customer wants and you don't have to track/manage the different options.
Compare with clip on covers for mobile phones. Heaps of colours/design available, but it's not a cost to the manufacturer as they leave all that up to third parties, who are effectively charging extra for the option of colour.
The other is that for things like cars and furniture there's a resale factor.
That's shifting the 'why' question to: why do people care more about resale value now than they did 20 years ago. I'd guess the reason would be the state of the economy? However a search for 'car color linked to economy' reveals other theories, like paint used: https://slate.com/culture/2011/10/car-paint-colors-why-are-s...
> For corporate environments it's about ease of repurposing the space and to be the least bit disruptive to where they're doing business. It'd cost a lot of money to remodel all the old red steel roof McDonald's if that lot were ever sold.
One of my favorite examples of this is the old Red Barn Restaurant chain [1]. The buildings were barn shaped and when they went out of business, they often times were repurposed as something else. They still stick out so much anywhere you come across them and I always am excited to see what business occupies them and how the the juxtaposition between the building and business is. One of my favorites is this one, which is now (or at least was at the time of this street view), a Sushi restaurant:
Old Blue & White gas stations are a treat to find. Not sure how many are left standing, but I had dinner at one repurposed as a restaurant in Tunica many years ago.
For one, it costs more money to dye the plastic or paint/anodize the metal. Everyone except children are going to buy the product based on function or need and companies have determined that the colour has no outsized effect on which one they choose. So it's cheaper to use basic black plastic and unpainted metal.
The other is that for things like cars and furniture there's a resale factor. A car is a big investment, and you want as much money as possible to put towards the purchase of the next one. A bright colour like yellow might make you happy while you own it, but it will be difficult to sell to other people as it's a very loud and ostentatious colour. It's the same with furniture and home architecture. '70s patterns in carpet will reduce the resale value of a house because few people will be willing to adapt their furniture to match.
For corporate environments it's about ease of repurposing the space and to be the least bit disruptive to where they're doing business. It'd cost a lot of money to remodel all the old red steel roof McDonald's if that lot were ever sold. In fact there are plenty of gable roof Pizza Huts that just got repainted after they were sold because remodeling the building cost too much money. McDonald's trend towards grey earth tones using metal and stone is so they can fit into big cities these days, especially in Europe and Asia. The coffeehouse aesthetic that Starbucks pioneered has proven especially attractive in those markets, and other companies are following suit by trying to use that same look to blend into modern five over ones and block highrises.