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."
