Pantone's color of 2013 promotes environmentalism

(CBS News) Ever wonder why all new clothes are the same color, or why certain shades are used for food packaging? The hot new color of the year is not just the manufacturers' favorite hue, it is actually a very carefully selected choice.

"Whether it's a product that's on the shelf or the interior of a home, whatever, wherever, we know color is very important to our lives in many aspects," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute and Pantone's prime color consultant who is known as the "International Color Guru."

The right color on a product can influence your decision to purchase it, and the correct color in a room can help you feel at home, she said.

Every year, Pantone, which originated as a printing company, selects the color of the year, and for 2013 it's emerald. For its selection, Pantone takes into consideration many social trends, and its choices end up influencing fashion, home decor, product design and manufacturing.

This year, Eiseman told "CBS This Morning: Saturday" hosts Anthony Mason and Margaret Brennan that they went with emerald because it is a beautiful color that has significance and meaning to a lot of people.

"It has a message that it carries that's kind of intrinsic. It also has a meaning, and we find this is what is really engaging to people is what the color means, and so now we have an answer for that," she said. "It's the color of unity, clarity, harmony, and we're living in a world today where we really need a lot of that."

Eiseman also said that the fact that green has been associated with being Earth-friendly is very important right now.

"We know green has been the symbolic color for environmentalism. Years ago it was, what was it, Kermit the Frog, and it wasn't easy being green, but today we know not only is it easy but it is a good thing," she said. "If you're a green industry it means you're aware of preserving the environment, so we knew it had to be a green, but we needed a green that was a little different than some of the yellow greens that we've been seeing the last few years."

For Leatrice Eiseman's full interview, watch the video in the player above.