Box Vox

packaging as content

«
»

August 31, 2008

Jarritos

Jarritosbottles2
I’ve been thinking about Jarritos for some time now. They’re popular in our neighborhood. The deli on the corner stocks them. I bought these seven varieties at Western Beef—also within walking distance. At first, the thing that attracted me, was the picture on the label of a container, other than the container in which they’re actually sold. The Jarritos corporate narrative explains this:

The brand name finds its origin in the Mexican tradition of drinking coffee, water and other drinks in clay pottery jugs, called “jarritos”, because it keeps beverages fresher and cooler.

Novomex web site

Founded in 1950, Jarritos is apparently the number one soft drink brand in Mexico and the number one Mexican soft drink brand, sold in the U.S. They’re known for using a high percentage of natural flavors, and, as with other Mexican-manufactured sodas, they use cane sugar (rather than corn syrup) which many regard as a tastier, more wholesome sweetener. (See related links about Mexican Coke: here and here)

One thing I do not like about this package, is the transparent plastic label. Originally, I thought that this was a recent change… (See: Packaging Digest) But I’ve lately been informed that the labels that we see on Jarritos bottles here in NY are those that are still produced in Juarez or Mexicali. So better adhering labels are coming soon to east coast! Still, given the vintage-looking typography, I would wish they could have stuck with the the original ACL (applied color label) ceramic labeling.

In an article about the machine responsible for applying the newer, better adhering labels, The Labeling Blog touts the supposedly "fifties" look of the final result:

The machine is designed to label 400 mm glass bottles at a rate of 52,000 bottles per hour: the final drinking product is “Jarritos”, a traditional Mexican drink consumed in vast quantities, especially by migrant Hispanics in the US. Novamex has decided to boost its popularity further via a stylish marketing campaign. The extreme labeling precision of the Opera 500 Ad, together with “no label look” transparent labels, which give the impression of a 50s-style screen printed bottle, provides Jarritos Novamex with considerable added value.

Capneck


Photo on left from Laura Beamer; photo on right from Chandlor’s flickr photostream

Not to be a total crab, I do appreciate the crown bottle cap & the embossed bottles’ “little jug” detailing. I’m also intrigued by this ad from 2004 showing how the world looks different, when seen through a Jarritos bottle.

(One more thing about Jarritos, after the jump…)

Blistexjarritos
There is also a Jarritos licensed lip balm.

(Randy Ludacer

Beach Packaging Design

Comments are closed.