Box Vox

packaging as content

November 30, 2010

Martha Stewart & Tareyton Cigarettes

TareytonMarthaLeft: Tareyton Cigarette pack (logo design by Raphael Boguslav); right: still from 1960s Tareyton commercial

I’m terrible at identifying faces and I’m not saying for sure that this is Martha Stewart, but just hear me out…

Stewart began a modeling career. She was hired and appeared in several television commercials and magazines, including one of Tareyton’s famous “Smokers would rather fight than switch!” cigarette advertisements.

from Wikipedia’s entry on Martha Stewart

Okay, but was it a Tareyton TV commercial or a Tareyton print ad? (The quote above is ambiguous.)

Many actors who would later become well-known for other reasons appeared in the Tareyton ads. Examples include future entrepreneur Martha Stewart, who appeared in a print ad, and actor Lyle Waggoner, who was featured in a television commercial in 1966.

from Wikipedia’s entry on “Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!”

If this Wikipedia entry is correct and there is a Tareyton print ad in existence in which Martha Stewart has a black eye, then I suggest it might be the one below, on the right:

61-65
The photo on the left is Martha Stewart in 1961; the ad on the right is from a 1965 magazine

Some sources, however, suggest that it was actually a television commercial that Stewart had appeared in. In discussing Tareyton ads in general, MsBlueSky emphatically states on her Flickr site:

FACT: A then 25 year old Martha Stewart appeared in one of Tareyton’s television commericals in 1966 with Lyle Waggoner, a 70s TV actor.

That commercial is below, although I am unconvinced that the actress appearing in it is Martha Stewart. (Also: Stewart’s modeling career was supposed to have been while she was a teenager, so the “25 year old” assertion seems wrong, as well.)

In an interview with Larry King, however, Stewart does say that she appeared in a Tareyton commercial:

STEWART: During high school, I became a photography model. I was at the Stuart Agency (ph) and also at the Ford Agency. So I did modeling.

KING: Were you a successful model?

STEWART: Yes, I was. I mean, I wasn’t what is considered successful now with million-dollar contracts, but I made $35 an hour to start. Then I went up to $50 an hour. That was a lot of money in those days.

KING: Were your family happy with this?

STEWART: Oh, they were very happy and allowed me to save my money for my education. So it was all saved. And I remember making some commercials. I did a Lifebuoy soap commercial.

KING: You did?

STEWART: Well, when I was like 15.

KING: Lifebuoy, Lifebuoy.

STEWART: I played a young married. Can you imagine? As I say, I was 15-years-old. And then I did a Tareyton “I’d rather fight than switch” commercial, you know? And then I practiced smoking…

KING: You did a cigarette commercial?

STEWART: I know. I tried to smoke for a week. And when I finally made the commercial, all I had to do was hold the cigarette like that. So…

KING: You didn’t blow it out in that phony fashion?

STEWART: No.

CNN transcript of “Interview with Martha Stewart, Martha Kostyra”
Larry King Live, December 22, 2003

That being the case, I think it’s more likely that the video below is the Martha Stewart Tareyton commercial in question.

But go ahead. Tell me I’m wrong.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

November 29, 2010

Cigarette Pack Charms

TareytonTwo Eppy miniature Tareyton cigarette packs via The Mule Wagon Antiques & Collectibles

Among the charms made to resemble tiny packages, cigarettes figure prominently. Some of these were kid’s vending machine charms, of the type we featured last Friday…

GumballCigarettes
9 cigarette pack charms from Eureka Gumball Charm Nirvana

Not the sort of toys today’s parents would encourage their children to play with, but no surprise that toys like these would be around in the late 1950s and early 60s. (In those days, candy cigarette packs and the like were considered culturally acceptable products for children playing grown up.)

Other, earlier cigarette pack charms seem to have been intended for an older demographic…

CigaretteCharmBracelet Charm bracelet and charms via: WorthPoint.com

“American teenagers in the 1950s and early 1960s collected charms to record the events in their lives.”

Wikipedia entry on “Charm Bracelets”

If such charms were intended to commemorate significant teenage events, one has to wonder, “What milestones were being commemorated here?” Learning to smoke? Changing brands? 

(More examples, after the fold…)

(more…)

November 26, 2010

Packaging Charms

PackagingCharms

A revelation to me that supermarket gumball machines once contained miniature consumer packaged goods.

These photos from Eureka Gumball Charm Nirvana are only a small sampling of what’s out there for collectors of tiny supermarket charms.

(Some display cards, after the fold…)

(more…)

November 24, 2010

Campbell’s Thankgiving

Flag-Can

Two things relating to the Package as Pixel thing:

1. An embossed tin Campbell’s Soup sign (circa: 1900–1910)

“A gorgeous and rare embossed tin sign for Campbell’s Soup, predating Warhol’s Pop Art by half a century is an attention getter. Most of these signs were destroyed when public opinion of the day deemed it to be a desecration of the American Flag. It comes to the Julia block with an estimate of $10,000/15,000.” [Sold for $18,400]

2007 Julia Auctions

2. From Canstruction New York 2010: a large Campbell’s Soup can made out of canned food — including other, possibly competing brands (e.g. Hunt’s Sauce).

Similar to Mary Campbell’s Food Can Mandala, Canstruction’s sculptures are later dissembled and donated to community food banks. (See also: Bean Can)

(One more thing, after the fold…)

(more…)

November 23, 2010

Edge-Matching Puzzles

VessCola

Em-pepsi-spanish-crop Following our recent puzzle/packaging thread, I learned about these promotional edge-matching puzzles on Rob’s Puzzle Page. (Photo on the right is from Rob’s page; photos above and below are from eBay)

Quite a few companies put out advertising-puzzle premiums based on Edwin Lajette Thurston’s 1892 patented puzzle. (Sometimes they’re called “Mystery Puzzles.”)

I like that the puzzle’s geometry requires the product packaging to be shown at every orientation—sideways, right-side-up, upside-down. I like the harlequin motif and the four-color mapping.

Pictorially, I think these would make such cool paintings—anachronistically bridging the gap between pop and op. They could be modular like the puzzle, itself, and hung up in different arrangements. (Even when they’re assembled incorrectly they still look great.)

CalumetPuzzle

(Thurston’s Patent and a Vess bottle cap “Mystery Puzzle,” after the fold…)

(more…)

November 22, 2010

Back in the Boxes

BackinBoxes

Packaging for two products, each called “Back in the Box”

BackinBox2 1. Back in the Box™ by Classic Games Company was a packing puzzle in which 17 tetrahedra of various sizes are fit back into a cube-shaped box.

Despite rectangular box inside, the shape of the package is more exotic. Appears to be rectangular box with one corner truncated to make a triangular top flap. A rare example of polyhedral puzzle packaging reflecting its unusually shaped contents, the truncated corner simulates the shape of the tetrahedrons inside. (Photos, on right and above, left are from Baxter Web Puzzles)

2. “Back in the Box” the 1994 seven-song "David Byrne" CD: design and photography by Deborah Norcross.

I like the blurry photo of the little box, and of course I want to know, what did it once contain that we are now meant to imagine going back in the box?

Byrne

Note: track one is parenthetically entitled, “Vox in the Box mix” 

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

November 19, 2010

Naef Packaging

NaefCella

Yesterday’s exploration of nested packaging leads us inevitably back to subject of nesting toys and to German mathematician, Peer Clahsen’s “Cella.” (Designed for Naef in 1979) Again, these are like Matryoshka dolls—only more modern and geometric. As with the early Rubik’s cubes, the products are fascinating, but it’s also interesting to check out the graphic design of the original packaging.

I like the multicolored Naef logo with the stacked “a” and “e”—which seems related to Naef’s building block products, but in in a subtle way.

NaefRubik

Naef’s version of a Rubik’s Cube

(Some videos of “Cella” & another Naef nesting toy, plus more vintage packaging, after the fold…)

(more…)

November 18, 2010

Nested Packaging: Surprise Balls & Russian Dolls

Bombay

Bombay Sapphire Layers Christmas Edition (via: Packaging of the World)

Super multi-layered packaging. On the one hand, it attracts and intrigues us. [See: surprise ball]  It heightens the ritual of opening. So many layers—what the hell is in here? The diamond ring that comes in a refrigerator sized box.

On the other hand: super wasteful. So much packaging for such a little thing. You’re Amazon.com and your customers are getting pissed off. (photo below from Tamaraberg’s Flickr Photostream)

WastefulShipping

Sometimes the concept is naturalistic. (e.g. the layers of an onion) Other times, recursive like Matryoshka dolls (Russian nesting dolls).

BigMacCoupon

A McDonald’s coupon promotion (via: PopSop)

(More layers of nested packaging, after the fold…)

(more…)

November 17, 2010

Tattooed Consumer Packaged Goods

TATOOS

We’ve already touched on CPG tattoos yesterday and last week. Here now is a fuller accounting of the product range that some loyal consumers are wearing. Permanently.

Note: The upper right photo of the man with the Hellmann’s Mayonnaise tattoo is © by Robert “Ferd” Frank who played in a band called the Aerovons and recorded an album called Resurrection [album cover here] at Abbey Road in 1969 and who later played bass with John Cougar Mellencamp.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

 

November 16, 2010

Jack Daniel’s Mustard

JackDanielsMustard2

I bought and photographed the jar above in 2008, but I’m only now getting around to posting it.

Jack Daniel’s Mustard: another surprising —(but not completely counter-intuitive)— brand extension.

Bic-Harley Managers often introduce brand extensions that differ significantly from their current product lines (e.g., Jack Daniels Mustard). Even though they do not introduce these extensions with the expectation that they will be negatively received or perform badly, such problems may indeed happen (e.g., Bic Perfume, Harley Davidson Wine Coolers).

Managing Negative Feedback Effects Associated With Brand Extensions: The Impact of Alternative Branding Strategies
(1997) by  Milberg, Park & McCarthy

Unlike the ephemeral Marlboro Beer, Jack Daniel’s Mustard (manufactured by Marzetti and on the market for at least 13 years) appears to be enjoying some longevity. (And may just be the tip of the iceberg for Jack Daniel’s brand extensions.)

(More mustard varieties, after the fold…)

(more…)

November 15, 2010

Popeye Spinach & The Droste Effect Tattoo

PopeyeSpinach

Photo above left is from Central Historian’s Flickr Photostream; photo above right is from Andrew John Gleason’s Flickr Photostream. (See Also: Roadside Packaging)

Thinking about packaging and tattoos, reminded me of Popeye for some reason. Popeye has tattoos of anchors on his arms. Some people have tattoos of Popeye on their arms. But if Popeye had a tattoo of himself on his arm…

DrosteTattoo

Photo above right from: Dinosaur Comics

(See: also Droste Effect Packaging)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

November 12, 2010

Six-Pack Tattoos

SixPackTatoos

3 quotes from the pages of Wikipedia:

Six pack may also refer to: A colloquial term for a well-defined rectus abdominis muscle of the human abdomen.

It is the combination of the linea alba and the linea transversae which form the abdominal “six-pack” sought after by many people.

While the “sixpack” is by far the most common configuration of the muscle bellies of the rectus, there exist rare anatomic variations which result in the appearance of eight (“eightpack”), ten, or—even rarer—asymmetrically arranged segments. All these variations are functionally equivalent.

Are “beer bellies” and “six-pack abs” functionally equivalent? Maybe, but the irony of the joke hangs heavier in some cases than in others.

Although well-defined abdominal muscles are also call “washboard abs,” I’m guessing there are far fewer men getting tattoos of washboards. “Six-pack” is the more popular metaphor.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

November 11, 2010

Crocodile Boxes—Alligator Bags

CrocBoxes

Four points:

1. A couple of crocodile theme boxes with jagged teeth. Top photos: a Lacoste cologne box that unfolds into a mascot-crocodile by José Luis Sobrino, of the School of Art Pedro Almodóvar (Ciudad Real) and Juan Vicente Ferreres, from Escola Massana (Barcelona); lower photo: children’s department store packaging by Lowe Brindfors. (via: Lovely Package)

Lacoste4 2. My paternal grandparents, when they were alive, used to live in Miami. I remember once (in the late 1950s—early 1960) someone my mother obtaining some embroidered alligator emblems which were then sewn onto shirts for my grandfather, my father, my little brother and myself to wear for a photo. At the time it was all about Florida and the alligators, but looking back I now realize it also had branding implications…

Jean René Lacoste… was a French tennis player and businessman. He was nicknamed “the Crocodile” by fans because of his tenacity on the court; he is also known worldwide as the namesake of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929.

Wikipedia entry on Lacoste

… and maybe cultural implications as well:

“There are two major classes of snobs I think. One class includes people that take little alligator labels and sew them onto their shirts. These snobs get the alligator labels from the second class of snobs — the people that buy genuine Lacoste shirts and promptly remove the alligator labels.”

From a ClubWRX.net forum post discussing auto “badging/debadging”

(Two additional “points” follow, after the fold…)

(more…)

November 10, 2010

Crazy Foam

CrazyFoam

Dan Goodsell’s collection of Crazy Foam cans. Like “Soaky,“ with its figural bubble bath containers, empty Crazy Foam cans tended to become toys.

Some Crazy Foam containers, however, tend not to become toys…

Adhesexfoam

Containers for Laybond self-expanding, quick-setting, “Crazy Foam” polyurethane-foam filler, for example, are not so coveted by kids when empty.

What, you might ask, could such trademark confusion lead to?

(Asked and answered, after the fold…)

(more…)

November 9, 2010

Penguin Packaging

PenguinPacks

Three penguin packages:

1. The Tennessee Tuxedo “Soaky” bubble bath bottle. When it’s empty, it’s a toy.

(See also: Mr. Bubble | A Short History of Seduction)

2. Taku Satoh’s Cool Mint Gum design for Lotte Confectionery:

Sato-san’s “eureka” moment was when he noticed how chewing gum is sold in stores. Usually when you see chewing gum in a shop, you will not only see one side — you will see two, the “top” and the side facing you, as they are stacked on the shelf.

Improving on the original design which had a picture and the logo squeezed together on the top side, Sato-san created a new design with a “logo” side and a “picture” side. Now when you see the gum in a store you can clearly see the two different sides of the design, the logo side where the product name and manufacturer are shown, and the picture side, showing the signature penguin illustration.

Ping Magazine

Photo of Cool Mint packaging, above) is from fendia★’s Flickr Photostream (Note: I’ll never see the word “Cool” with intersecting Os and not think of Kool Cigarettes.)

Satoh also created a number of sculptural artworks based on his penguin branding for Cool Mint. More gum you can ride on: stick of gum as skateboard…

StickofGumSkateBoard

Below the white gum package serves as a screen for projecting packaging graphics with animated penguins. (Still photos below from: dcdomain’s Flickr Photostream)

TakuSatoh

(See also: Taku Satoh’s Spice Rack Synesthesia and 5 Types of Animated Package)

3. Mats Ottdal’s Arctic juice box concept. Other bird species were also conceived of. (Via: Lovely Package)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

November 8, 2010

Stick Horse Gum Pack

StickHorse

A vintage Wrigley’s ad promoting the digestive benefits of chewing gum: stick horse — stick of gum? (Maybe we’ll talk about the anthropomorphic arrow another time.)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

November 5, 2010

Robert Loughlin’s Brutish Re-Branding

Loughlin2

Some package-related artworks by Robert Loughlin. Prolific and single-minded, Loughlin has been painting “the brute” —(his signature squared-jawed smoking man)— on innumerable objects and surfaces since the early 1980s.1  That some of these objects would be packages, only stands to reason. In tagging them with his own de facto logo, Loughlin2 has, in effect re-branded them:

The vintage Mobil Oil can, the Brillo Box3, the perfume bottle picture—(I’m guessing that’s a magazine ad, rather than an actual bottle?)— Kodak Carousel Slide Tray boxes, a record label, a Sears Blanket insert card…

In recent years, Loughlin’s cartoonish, hyper-masculine, smoking “brute” has been featured in The New York Times, Apartment Therapy, Design Boom, etc. While most cite partner, Gary Carlson and his muse and inspiration for “the brute” motif, another important influence may be Leo Burnett’s “Marlboro Man” as the magazine clipping below (from Loughlin’s photo web site) seems to suggest.

Filters at the time were described by Leo Burnett as “sissy”. Real men didn’t smoke filter tipped cigarettes. … Marlboro sold masculinity in 1954 by being the first brand to use “real men” versus the prior models. And what men! They showed football players, cowboys, airplane pilots, and sailors. These were tough, real men… The ads were not just masculine, but were single-mindedly masculine They portrayed manly, rugged men doing manly, rugged jobs.

From Tobacco Documents Online: page 1 of “The Marlboro Success Story,”
a 1985 marketing report made available online as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement

  MarlboroGuns

(What is the deal with the guns and the Marlboro pack above? Are the guns little? Or is it an oversized cigarette pack? I don’t know.) The machine gun on the left, is a vintage Tru-matic brand toy machine gun, painted and signed by the artist.

There is also Luke Joerger's film Pickers and Grinners which documents Loughlin’s prowess as a preeminent NY antique picker…

(See a clip of this movie—that features celebrity gossip & packaging—after the fold…)

(more…)

« Older Entries