Crayola's colour explosion

Anoraks (count me in) might be intrigued by this representation of the increasing range of colours offered by Crayola over the years. (I've seen similar when buying powdered poster paints over the years.) I suppose the acceleration of choice in the late 1940s and 1950s and, more exuberantly, from the 1990s onward reflects general trends in consumerism. Crayola seem to have recognised the need for stability in the early 2000s, far earlier than other market sectors. One might say their market may have reached saturation. Will there be a step down now that, following recession, things seem to have a greyer perspective?

Weather Sealed, where I found this chart, give a nice account of its production by scraping data from Wikipedia.

[via BlogLess]