Smirnoff's fruit flavors get 'peelable' bottles

Neat packaging work here by JWT Brazil for the new Smirnoff Caipiroska collection of vodkas. The bottles come in "peelable" skins to imitate the fruits that infuse the liquor—lemon, strawberry and passion fruit. Sadly, the packaging won't be be widely available—it was made especially for promotional kits. Still a great idea. Good thing there isn't a banana Caipiroska. You'd have to wrap in once, and then sleeve it in plastic. See a few more images over at Comunicadores.

Filed under Alcohol, JWT, Nudd, Packaging, Smirnoff
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Bananas finally fitted with plastic packaging

In what would seem to be a major packaging fail, Del Monte has come up with individual plastic wrappers for bananas! The banana skin itself—robust and biodegradable—has finally been deemed insufficient, apparently, despite proving its worth over many thousands of years. The new plastic pouches feature "controlled ripening technology," which supposedly extends the fruit's shelf life—and which the company claims could actually reduce the carbon footprint by cutting back the frequency of deliveries and the amount of waste going to landfill. (The plastic is also recyclable.) Even if true, convincing people that Del Monte itself hasn't gone bananas will be a challenge. Via The Awl.

Filed under Food and drink, Nudd, Packaging
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Diet Pepsi skinny can causes big fat ruckus

PepsiCo has stirred up a bit of a shitstorm with its new "skinny can" for Diet Pepsi, introduced during New York Fashion Week and made in "celebration of beautiful, confident women." Critics say the packaging just reinforces dangerous stereotypes that women must resemble beanpoles to be attractive. Possibly anticipating the outcry, the brand got Modern Family's Sofia Vergara, one of television's curviest stars, to model for the print ad shown here—but didn't do themselves any favors by making her almost unrecognizable. In any case, the solution is simple. Replace Vergara with Christina Hendricks, and add a head, arms, legs and a belly button to the can's logo—which will quickly reveal Pepsi's true love for the portly among us.

Filed under Controversy, Nudd, Packaging, Pepsi, Soda
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Today's crazy new product: whisky in a can

Straight Scotch whisky in a 12-ounce can. It doesn't seem right, really. But Scottish Spirits is pushing forward with the new packaging. "We are really thrilled with the idea," says CEO Manish Panshal. "It's going to be a part of every lifestyle and occasion. The can is the perfect size to be shared between three people who can mix it with other things like cola. It's lightweight and portable and entirely recyclable, which is good news. It will be one of the hot picks for any outdoor activities." Now, in true Scottish spirit, they just need to package the can inside a dead rodent.

Filed under Alcohol, Nudd, Packaging
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How minimalist do you like your packaging?

Consumer products are usually overly designed, in order to capture people's attention. Now, design firm A2591 is conducting a little experiment in which it's stripping away a lot of the bells and whistles from product packaging, to see if a bare-bones design can be just as striking. Check out a number of the redesigns here. They present three versions of each product design—original, simple and more simple. In many of the cases, the designs do improve with some cleaning up—although the most minimal designs often seem a bit too simple.

Filed under Design, Nudd, Packaging
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FDA unveils 36 warning labels for cigarettes

The Food and Drug Administration today unveiled 36 proposed designs for new warning labels on cigarette packs, required under a new law that gives the FDA power to regulate tobacco products for the first time. The agency wants feedback, and will pick nine labels next June to use on packages beginning next October. There are a few gross ones, though frankly the imagery could be worse (and is worse in other countries). My favorite is probably the one above, which appears to be based on the scene in Poltergeist when Craig T. Nelson stands transfixed next to the gaping jaws of hell. See all 36 images here. What do you think of them? And will they have any effect on smokers? Via The Awl.

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Filed under Anti-smoking, Nudd, Packaging, Politics
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SunChips Canada has earplugs for loud bag

If you've been following the SunChips compostable-bag saga, you'll know Frito-Lay mostly scotched the environmentally friendly packaging in the U.S. after people said it was too damn loud and crinkly. (One person bizarrely compared the noise to that of a jet airplane.) In Canada, the brand is not caving so quickly. In fact, it's committed to keeping the noisy bag. In the video below, Frito-Lay Canada's sustainability chief explains why—and humorously offers free earplugs on Facebook to anyone whose delicate eardrums can't take the abuse. It's a nice, tongue-in-cheek way to deal with the problem—and something they could have tried in the U.S. Yes, environmental appeals might be an easier sell in Canada, but Americans surely would have respected the company for not backtracking so quickly on a noble idea in the face of a minor consumer annoyance. One thing's for sure. The Canadian wing of the "Sorry But I Can't Hear You Over This SunChips Bag" group on Facebook is going to be pissed. Via Consumerist.

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Filed under Canada, Environment, Frito-Lay, Nudd, Packaging, SunChips
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SunChips muffles noisy, biodegradable bag

Eighteen months after releasing a new biodegradable bag with much fanfare and a large ad buy, SunChips is mostly going back to the old bag until a less crinkly biodegradable alternative can be found. SunChips sales have dropped by 11 percent in the past 52 weeks—possibly in part due to the new bag, which people have said is just too damn loud, like lawnmower and jet-engine loud. There's even a Facebook group called "Sorry But I Can't Hear You Over This Sun Chips Bag," which has managed to attract almost 50,000 dissidents. Frito-Lay says it's committed to environmental packaging and will leave the original flavor in the new bag, but all other flavors are headed back to the old packaging. The company says it knew the bag sounded and felt different, but someone must have argued that people would care more about the environmental benefits than about a little noise. So, sorry environment. We were hoping for change that didn't actually require us to change.

Filed under Cullers, Environment, Packaging, SunChips
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Candwich finally delivers sandwich in a can

Following the rodent-carcass beer from yesterday, here's another major step forward in the world of packaging: the Canwich, a sandwich in a can from Mark One Foods. Many believed sandwiches couldn't or shouldn't come in a can, but this proves them wrong. Mark Kirkland has been working on the Candwich for more than a decade and has hit many snags along the way. But in August, the PB&J Candwich and BBQ Chicken Candwich will finally come to market. They stay fresh for a year without being refrigerated, so you know they must be good. "It's been a long, hard road," says Kirkland. "If I didn't really believe in the product and I didn't have a good wife, I'd probably be dead now." His challenge for the next 10 years: a sandwich inside a can inside a chipmunk.

Filed under Candwich, New products, Nudd, Packaging
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