Box Vox

packaging as content

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July 6, 2008

Toxic Waste

ToxicwasteFound some toxic waste on the sidewalk while walking my dog this morning. It’s not that our neighborhood is a Superfund site or anything. (Although, we do get our share of litter.)

What I had found was a somewhat sticky packet of Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy from Candy Dynamics. My first thought—(aside from the obvious irony of finding some self-stipulating toxic litter)—was that it was packaging about packaging. A tiny candy packet with a picture of a big oil drum.

Somewhat lame, graphically speaking, but maybe that kinda works for this market segment. Strikes me as a similar marketing concept to Garbage Pail Kids or Wacky Packages. Toxic waste as candy. Is it a boy thing? Taking delight in gross-out stuff—flavor as physical challenge?

(More pictures after the jump…)

TwpacketsWent to their web site via the address on the back of the packet. The “Drummie” awards page indeed seems to confirm what I had intuited: extreme sour is a (predominantly) boy thing.

I was also amused to see lots of diagonal yellow & black warning stripes. (See my earlier post on the Dieline about Stanley Tools.)

Drumdisplay

And finally, it is interesting to note that, despite the satirical nature of the “toxic candy” concept, their web site also include a politically corrective Environment page with a logo that proudly proclaims “Toxic Waste® Candy Sponsors a Cleaner Planet”

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

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