Colour of the year?

Every year, someone picks the "colour of the year".  It's Pantone who pick this colour. Not entirely sure who gave them the licence to pick the colour, but they do, and fashionistas all over the globe slavishly use the COLOUR in, interior design, furniture, housewares and clothing.
I have possibly missed something out, as I am not a follower of fashion, I do my own thing.
But there are people with more money than sense who will keep the colour at the forefront of their minds when choosing clothing, etc.
I don't blame Pantone, after all we live in a materialistic society, where money drives everything else, often at the cost of happiness, health and peace of mind.
Some people HAVE to have items in the colour of the year, which creates a market for them.  My question is, what happens to the things that are the "wrong" colour? And isn't there something wrong with a society where furnishings are bought because they are "this season/year's colour/design" and the existing furnishings are deemed unfashionable?
Love it or hate it.....and quite frankly, clothingwise living coral does nothing for me, it's a pretty colour this year, but having everything in this year's colour would be weird. Like living inside a body, or something.
If the colour had been chosen in order to help raise money for a related cause, I could get behind some random group of people choosing an annual colour.
Imagine how much money could be raised for the upkeep of the world's actual living coral if just say 5% of each branded sale was donated to a global organisation caring for coral reefs around the globe.
Anyway, if you want to know more about this colour......that only looks best underwater, surrounded by tropical fish.....here's a link to Pantone.