The dying aestictic

In Today's World, there is little denying that places that were once fun to look at and go there due to that fact; are now bland and boring. For example, McDonald's, once a colorful fun place that was appealing to the eyes, today is a gray box of cheap, boring food. Why are all businesses doing this? Is it to look "modern" or "efficient". Is it to cut costs? Grey certainly is cheaper to paint that every color under the sun. But why do this? Why make everything ugly? Is it really worth making everything ugly, in order to cut costs and be more efficient?
Even with government and public buildings, this is the case. What once was seen as a masterpiece, is now just a brick box of grey. Where is the inspiration? Sure there is art decor around, to lift things up, and the art pieces are certainly nice; it just isn't enough to paint the whole picture as uplifting and hopeful and fun. 
And people love color, they love seeing many colors at once. Whenever you give someone who has been colorblind, color-corrective glasses and they see all of the colors around them, they burst in joy. 
How are you to build an uplifted company if all is grey and dull. People will certainly buy more if they are happy and associate businesses with that. So why does every business and public building insists on being ugly, grey and vomit-inducing? 

^Early Preview^
​Not yet finished