Tropicana Cans New Cartons So You Like-a the Juice Again

Photo taken by Billy Parker

Tropicana announced today that it will discontinue its new product redesign only a month after all of its orange juice containers were revamped. The Times calls the move PepsiCo's "own version of New Coke." We've heard quite a few grumblings around town about how generic-looking the new Tropicana cartons were and apparently some people took their gripes to the company itself. One customer asked Tropicana, “Do any of these package-design people actually shop for orange juice? Because I do, and the new cartons stink.”

But if you were hoping that meant the end to the ads like the one above that have flooded buses and subways last month, think again. Tropicana says the ad campaign, as opposed to the cartons, has been praised because depictions of fathers and children in food-centric ads is rare. Is that why we find something about some of their images a little unsettling? Or was it the designer's original assertion that they wanted to "cause parents to associate the love they feel while hugging their children with the act of purchasing orange juice."

Tropicana says that will contact everyone who called or wrote to them to complain about the change to let them know that they will be reverting back. And as for the one charming feature of the rebranding, the caps shaped like oranges, they will live on in a new, healthier juice that's on its way. One logo-centric blog said of the move, "Design justice coming down upon crappy design, this day is as big as it gets."

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By Billy Parker in Food, News on February 23, 2009 6:15 PM

Comments [rss]

MrCow

there's a facebook group against it

NannyState

We've organized a People's Revolutionary Army against it.

sakebalboa

WHAT? why is there so much love for the orange shaped cap. It's the worst part of the redesign, it keeps rolling off onto the floor, who in their right mind puts the cap open side down on their counter?

bklyngrrl

I liked the new design. I found it sleek and modern. Oh, well.

gymnasticks

who gives a shit. you people need to stop whining over miniscule problems. it's just an orange juice container. either drink the stuff or not. god damn.

MaiaW

Will agree and say that the new packaging sucked. Instead of various fruits, which you can identify at a glance, you had a boring glass of OJ (or whatever), which looked the same in every variety. Come on, people! This is almost as bad as the Duane Reade redesign.

Spoony

This is the worst thing to happen to Design (as an industry) in a long time.

It's hard enough to convince a Marketing Dept. to take chances, but if companies start to see this as a precedent for the public not responding to a change in image, then the difficult job of pushing for new designs becomes almost impossible.

KiljoyWasHere

I love this packaging.

I do not, however, understand the advertisements. I have no problem with DILFs, but do not understand why the text reads "it's a natural." Is it because "it's all natural" was nixed by the legal department?

Lesliepbg

I like the old design much better. The juice came in this round container and you had to slice it in half and place on this plastic doo-hickey and twist. Then the juice would come out. You'd pour it into a glass and drink. The packaging was biodegradable too...what ever happened to that?

aspiringrapper

Keep the orange-shaped cap, ditch everything else.

ed_Extinct

very european design-like.... well done. sad to see it go.

freddynyc

This ad could be a setup for one of those really bad commercial parodies on SNL...

abcohen

ps. in terms of the new packaging... very excited for the RETRO!

abcohen

I hated the packaging... and I for one will go buy another box just because of the change :)

NannyState

It's cool in a club kind of way, perfect for fitness model Daddy after a long night of rolling with X and cruising public toilets.

SeasTooFarToReach

This explains why the juice was only 4 bucks at the grocery store today!

I think that visually the package it's too minimalistic for that kind of product, though it does not bother me at all.

I'm joining the fan group for the cap, it's indeed a nice idea.

cheemacheema

As a designer I know first hand how much clients suck ass. As a designer you have to give what the client wants no matter how bad the idea is, especially when the client is Pepsi! You do what they ask for because they are paying big bucks for it. Package designers know what they are doing.

rdsizzle

Quite frankly I think this can go both ways. I have seen and worked with many of the tight ass clients you are referring to, and yes they often can ruin a project by handcuffing the designers.

That being said, too many times, the designer is so into his design world (which is often far removed from the general consumer) that they forget the purpose of their work which ultimately is to sell product. I have worked with so many graphic designers that seem more concerned about winning design awards and what their peers will think of them rather then actually selling product.

I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those primadonnas was behind this design

Spirit of 76

So for the second time in a few months, a major brand redesign met with scathing criticism (the other being the new, utterly generic Duane Reade logo).

Personally, I miss Tropic-Ana, the little girl that used to grace the cartons way back when. What next, get rid of Aunt Jemima's smiling face or the Pillsbury Doughboy?