Box Vox

packaging as content

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April 27, 2009

Weather and Medicine Signals for Daily Reference

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More anthropomorphic patent medicines from a turn-of-the-century trade card. Here we have a group of “peaceable packages” doing a sort of maypole dance around the world—in contrast to the combative “pugilistic packaging” of earlier this month. (Ayer’s trade card photos via Dave’s Great Cards)

We've covered other examples of dancing packages here. Usually these are cigarette packs, although they too have, at times, been ascribed with attractive-sounding medicinal properties.

The analogy being advanced in the trade card above is between weather warning flags and medical symptoms:

“Nature has its own code of cautionary signals. Pains in the forehead, sneezing, chilliness, lassitude, oppressed breathing, redness and suffusion of the eyes, soreness of the throat, hoarseness, and coughing, are indicative of Colds of various stages of progress. Colds and Coughs are themselves cautionary signs not to be disregarded.”

See some actual J. C. Ayer & Co. packaging: here.

(See the front and back of this trade card in its entirety, after the fold…)

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Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

No Responses to “Weather and Medicine Signals for Daily Reference”

  1. MM says:
    June 23, 2009 at 2:29 am

    Fire Road was designed by The Creative Method.