box vox

Cans Without Labels

Animator/cartoonist, John Kricfalusi tells an interesting autobiographical story about his dad’s motivation to buy all the “cans without labels” from their supermarket. His “George Liquor” character (above) plays the thrifty father figure. Below, John K tells the story in his own words.

It’s telling that, in order to “pitch” his project, Kricfalusi relies both on his skills as a raconteur as well as a cartoonist. Naturally, I dig the packaging-based story line (dramatically highlighting the importance of labels!) I also like the Ren & Stimpy-ish glee that Kricfalusi shows in George Liquor’s face as he demonstrates his deeply flawed method of sussing out the contents of the unlabeled cans.

(More “Cans Without Labels” artwork from John K., after the fold...)

Supergraphic Wacky Packs

60s kid-satire, “Wacky Packs” meets early 70s, “supergraphics” via Philadelphia-based LTL Prints’ peel & stick wall graphics.

Last year I was touting my decorating acumen for having framed a Wacky Pack press sheet to decorate our office. But these large-scale Wacky Packs (available in sizes up to 7 feet tall) raise a serious client-relations question. How far do I dare go with the Wacky Packaging decor?

Some of these mock packages actually imply that the products they contain are maybe not so good. Is that the message I really want to send? Certainly not the usual market-speak of a consumer packaged goods design firm. Maybe that’s refreshing.

What do you think? If you were a client, would it alienate you? And which one of the Wacky Packages below, do you think would look good, say, seven feet long over our conference table—I mean, without damaging our credibility with you?

 

(Another room photo, after the fold...)

Another type of kind of "can car"

A “car-in-a-can” that maybe should have been included in our first Cross-Category Packaging post (Part 1: Cans), but would have also made sense as a third type of “can car.” At any rate, here it is now as a feature story...

Miniature remote-control car, comes in a soda-can style package. (Via: Totally-Funky)

(Film, after the fold...)

Cross-Category Packaging (Part 5: Bottles and Jars)

This will probably be the last of the cross-category posts—(unless I discover some huge, unsuspected batch of cross-category toothpaste tubes packaging.)

Meanwhile, here are some cross-categorical bottles & jars. Sometimes glass, sometimes plastic, but all containing solid stuff, rather than anything liquid, as such.

1. Lots of candy is packaged in little plastic bottles and jars. Candy is one of those categories that seems very inclined towards cross-category packaging in general. (See: Soda Candy and Medicine Cabinet Candy) Kids seem to have some innate, cultural fascination with packaging. (See: Wacky Packages) Whether these simulated packages are appealing to kids as toys for “playing house” or as some sort of consumer-in-training, developmental thing, candy makers have apparently noticed that kids go for it. Baby Bottle Pop is the example we’re featuring here today.

2. The “Bottle Rockets Waterproof Nova” vibrator, too, comes packaged in a bottle. (via)

3. For some reason: Cupcake in a Jar. (Although this idea seems kind of counter-intuitive to me.)

4. Two watches: A swatch watch that comes in a bottle, and the Too Late watch (that we also featured: here) comes in a jar. (Photo via NotCot)

5. A treasure map puzzle that comes in a bottle. (See: Packaging Puzzles)

6. Two powdered mixes: a “9 Grain Beer Bread Mix” that comes in a beer bottle, and a pancake mix that comes in a conveniently half-empty plastic jug. (So that you can add the wet ingredients and “shake” it.) via weirdmeat.com

7. Baby gear including a “Six Bunnies” body suit in a pink jar, and baby bibs in baby-food jars—(yet another cross-category pack from FreshWear, a company that seems to be all about the cross-category packaging. See also: Milk Cartons and Egg Cartons.)

8. Spice Salt in a Tabasco bottle

9. Giant Art Jar of craft supplies

10. A survivor kit in a bottle—(not to be confused with the survivor kit in a sardine can!)

11. A firefly-theme T-shirt that come in a jar with holes on the top. (See: Packaging as Imprisonment)

(Another picture, after the fold...)

Cross-Category Packaging (Part 3: Egg Cartons)

Top row, left: ”Soggs,“ socks from Xplorys (the same company that brought us FreshWear baby clothes, packaged in milk cartons); on right: egg shaped candles from Coastal Candle Supply; 2nd row, left: Soso in egg-shaped salt shakers (via the dieline); on right: a six-pack of Tenga “egg” sex toys; 3rd row from left (clockwise): marshmallow eggs (from Cybele-’s Flickr Photostream); Benny Bully’s “egg chop” dog treats; Swatch “CHICCHIRICHI” watch and packaging, and “Dancing Egg” game packaging from Haba Toys; on right “Feeling Egg” LED light set packaging; 4th row, left: chocolate eggs from Thompson Candy; on right: a Language Egg Carton Game; 5th row, left: Disney’s Chicken Little figures packaging (via Stuart Ng Books and Toy Whiz); on right: a craft felt egg carton project via eBay; below that: MailleBox yarn packaging (photo from PutYourFlareOn’s Flickr Photostream); 6th row: children’s “egg” toy packaging; bottom row: Asher Jasper’s packaging for felted creatures

Continuing with the cross-category series—(as defined in Part 1)—here are egg cartons which do not contain eggs. (At least not the genuine, laid-by-a-hen type of egg.)

For Easter candy & chocolate eggs (and other deliberately egg-shaped items) it‘s not really such a stretch to come up with the idea of packaging them like eggs. Not so obvious that socks, sex toys, pet treats, yarn, salt, felt toys & LED lights could also be packaged this way.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

FBI Jr. Spy Toy Packaging

In our previous post, we focused on package-shaped cameras, one of which was a toy spy-camera in the shape of a Resse’s Peanut Butter Cap package. Further research turned up this collection of other “FBI Jr.” brand toys on Sam’s Toybox. 

Turns out that “FBI Jr. by Nasta” was all about spy paraphernalia designed to resemble soda & snack food packaging. (None of Sam’s toys are for sale.)

 

(Another Pepsi Walkie Talkies box—one that is for sale—after the fold...)

Packaging Cameras

Top row, left: Velveeta box camera from Allee Willis’s Blog; on right: Coke Can cameras from eBay;  2nd row, left: film canister camera via I New Idea; 3rd row, right: Fanta can camera from CircusCat’s photostream; center: King’s Cigarette box camera from Rick Soloway’s photostream; on right: instant coffee jar camera from eBay; 4th row left: chocolate milk box camera from Four Corners Dark; center: juice box camera from Zebriana’s photostream; on right: Budweiser Beer can camera (from eBay, I think); bottom row, left: Smarties camera from RockyCameras.com; on right: “Zeon Tech” Pepsi camera from Arthur Smokes’ photostream

There seems to be no end to the personal accessory categories in which you can find objects designed to resemble consumer packaged goods. We’ve already covered cigarette lighters, telephones and transistor radios. (Not to mention: salt & pepper shakers) Now we’re looking at package-shaped cameras.

Are they merely advertising promotions or are they products in their own right? Are they toys or another example of extreme brand loyalty?

(Another packaging camera—& the box that it came in—after the jump...)

Oatmeal Box Radios

Photo from The Rocketeer’s Flickr Photostream 

Quaker Oats came out with their cylindrical box in 1915, coincidentally coinciding with the popularity of home-brewed crystal radio sets.

Young boys were at the forefront of the broadcasting movement and were frequently credited with introducing the technology into their households. Given the scarcity and expense of factory-ready receivers, the boys’ primitive crystal sets, often made by wrapping wire around an empty Quaker Oats can, were no longer seen as trivial toys. At the opening of the First National Radio Conference in 1922, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover directly acknowledged the “genius of the American boy,” and observed that many of them possessed the requisite knowledge to create a radio station.

Noah Arceneaux
Paul Reveres of Early Radio:
The Boy Scouts and the Origins of Broadcasting

---

“Sales of Quaker Oats went zooming, not because the populace had suddenly gone ape over hot cereal, but because the cylindrical box made a perfect base for coil winding.”

San Diego’s Hysterical History
By Howard W. Howard, Herbert Lockwood

(More pictures of Quaker “oat box” radios, after the fold...)

Kellogg's Variety Pack

From the Internet Archive: 1961, black & white Kellogg’s commercial with primitive animation effect showing cereal boxes shrinking down to “Variety Pack” size. When I was a kid, Kellogg’s called this package their “Snack-Pak.”  Now-a-days “snack pack” might mean packet. I’m not too sure. (An early boxvox post covered the aerodynamic aspects of the “Snack-Pak”: here)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Fractal Jenga Box

A fractal-pack idea from the high concept section of London-based The Core’s website...

Designed to resemble one of the building blocks it contains, this self-similar Jenga box could, itself, be stacked like Jenga blocks for an in-store display. (More about how packaging can be fractal: here, here, here, here, here, here & here)

(Note: I extracted the single box on the right from The Core’s picture of stacked boxes below.)

 

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

 

Marlboro Doll Case

Vintage Marlboro Cigarettes Barbie Doll case from a 2008 eBay auction:

“Marlboro Cigarette Barbie doll case....back when it was cool to get a cigarette case for your child’s doll!! ...you had to order this special!....can be used as a box purse.....all intact but shows wear and some pen marks ... Plastic PVC covering in still nice with no cracks to the edges....made by the Philip Morris co and has patent # on bottom.....VERY fun find for your collection!!”

(via Worthpoint.com)

Aside from the issue of cigarette branded children toys... The thing I don’t understand about this item is, if Marlboro was bending over backwards to overcome the supposed stigma of its “sissy” origins, how come they came out with a little girl’s doll case? How does this jibe with the tattooed man campaign?

Another couple of photos, after the fold...)

Shopping Cart Toy?

I got this shopping cart last month from the Salvation Army. Is it a toy? I’m not so sure. It’s pretty utilitarian and, aside from being little, there’s nothing to indicate that it was meant to be a toy. (No toy company branding, etc.) I was thinking it might be some sort of retail display prop. If it is a shopping cart toy, it’s the second shopping cart toy that we’ve featured here on box vox—(see: the first one)—and the only shopping cart that I ever actually bought. It’s about 1/3 actual size, but I got it for 1/2 off.  ( $12.00 ÷ 2 = $6.00 )

For the photo I loaded it up with groceries and foodstuffs that we had on hand. A couple of these brands, we’ve covered before. (Remember this one or this one?)

(Update: All questions answered by an astute commenter, after the fold...)

Marbles as Bottle Toppers

Okay, this is the last post about marbles. I promise.

Back in the days when they were still somewhat popular with children, marbles were sometimes used to help sell soda pop. (Coca-Cola bottle toppers from eBay)

Not that this was the first time that marbles were added to beverage packaging. (See: Codd Neck Bottles)

(One more photo, after the fold...)

Vintage Marbles Packaging

Not the popular children’s toy, they once were, but to continue with yesterday’s thought: boxes. During their heyday, marbles were packaged in boxes. Sometimes these boxes might include a carrying pouch, but marbles in plastic polybags came later. (With one exception, all of these photos are via Marbles Galore.)

(More marbles boxes, after the fold...)

More Marbles

Top row left: jar of marbles from Plow Plane's Flickr Photostream; on left: water cooler jug and 2nd row: shelves of jars from from Dusty 73’s Flickr Photostream; bottom left: Lipton Ice Tea bottle from Tare Panda’s Flickr photostream; to the right and on far left: photos from eBay, I think; milk bottle of marbles from Santa Cruz Bread’s guess-the-quantity contest

In case you haven’t noticed, I like to follow a thread. Therefore: from a jar of marbles with manufactured meaning (sold at a significant profit on eBay) to more reused containers, containing other (less significant?) collections of marbles.

Jars and bottles seem to be de rigueur among collectors for the display of their collections, although not the type of container in which they’re generally sold. (More about that tomorrow.)

(One more collection of marbles, after the fold...)

Lucky Cat Candy Packet

Tiny cellophane packet achieves a surprisingly effective illusion: transforming its contents —(two gum-ball shaped candies)— into a miniature Maneki Neko.

Different packets feature different facial expressions.

(More photos after the fold...)

More Shmoo Packaging

A 1950s Shmoos fruit flavored hard candies box with 5 unseparated “fortune” cards from Hakes.com

As long as we’re talking about licensed Shmoo merchandise and its packaging, here’s more of it. The merchandising of Shmoo products in the late 1940s to early 1950s was a wildly successful example of character licensing. Presumably, the designers of these packs didn’t have the rigid style guides that we follow for licensed packaging today. The branding of Shmoo products was a lot more diverse and all over the map, as compared to, say, Sponge Bob products. To the extent that these products do match, stylistically, I reckon it is mainly due to Al Capp, himself, having final approval over the artwork.

1950 Pencil-shaped pencil-box/whistle with Shmoo branded pencils from from Hakes.com

(More Shmoo packaging, after the fold...)

IlliteRAT with Alpha-bits

IlliteRAT ©1976 David Wilder (starring my pet rat, Lucky)

Not the first time we’ve mentioned rats (or mice) here on box vox and, as previously disclosed, I myself, once had a pet rat. Given to me by another rodent-loving classmate at RISD, “Lucky” played a starring role in my friend, David Wilder’s video, illiteRAT. Hadn’t seen this tape in over 30 years, but I think its conceptual rigor still holds up.

And it was nice for me to see the little feller again, after all this time. (I don’t really remember what the cereal box looked like that Lucky’s Alpha-bits came in. Lets just say, for arguments sake, that it was the one on the left—photo from The Imaginary World—with the mouth-shaped, faux die cut window.)

In my last year at school, I lived in an office building in downtown Providence where I’d let Lucky scamper, dog-like, about the loft. It’s surprising how frisky a rat can be.

I recall eating a lot of ice-cream cones one Summer. (This was before I found out I was diabetic.) I got into a habit of methodically reducing the size of the ice-cream cone—keeping it in classic proportions—until I had formed a miniature, rat-size ice-cream cone. This, I would then present to Lucky and he’d grab it in his hands and eagerly finish it off. (Sort of fractal, now that I think of it...)

Sadly, my free-range policy of giving Lucky the run of the place, ultimately led to his demise. Turned out there were dusty old trays of rat poison under the radiators, that I didn’t know were there.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Fruit Faces & Faux Crate Box

BR&Me’s redesign for Capri Sun:  while there’s plenty of precedent for anthropomorphized fruit faces —(See: Pillsbury “Funny Face”)— I think that their idea of using a fruit slice as a smile is good one, and I do like the simplicity of the hand drawn eyes and lines at the corners of the mouths—(sort of like this guy). One thing I question: are the smiles as instantly recognizable as they should be?

Regarding the faux fruit crate box: naturally, I like the cross-referential package posing as another type of package. Plus it’s another example of a faux die cut window. The leaf-mustache detail is cute. Not 100% sold on the typography.

via DesignWeek and PopSop

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Matt King's Carnival Straw Cart Corrals

“Turbo” Matt King, 1999—Flexible straws, hot glue, packaging

I had just been reading about Sylvan Goldman’s invention of the shopping cart in Thomas Hine’s book, so shopping carts—(and how they are stored)—was already on my mind when followed a link to sculptor, Matt King’s web site.

Cart corrals—those ubiquitous steel structures peppered throughout the parking lots of America’s malls and supermarkets—are some of my favorite “found” sculptures. As objects that evoke both a whiff of the Wild West and the gluttony of contemporary consumerism, their presence always makes me chuckle. In 1999 I made 50 cart corral designs out of bendy straws and hot glue. They are as goofy as the original only smaller.

Matt King

A lot of his other work also uses products & their packaging as raw materials. (See: Blister Pack, SPF30, & Mergers)  A few of the sculptures from his SPF30 series even include folding chairs—the conceptual inspiration for Sylvan Goldman’s shopping cart invention.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design