With more than 15,000 online votes, Luis Acosta, a 29-year-old graphic designer from Queens, New York, won the NYC condom package design contest. The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced that Acosta’s design with an “on” power button would adorn six million limited-edition free condoms set for release this year.
“I hope my package design reminds people that they’re in control. We all have the power to protect ourselves from sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancies,” said Acosta.
First introduced by the health department on Valentine’s Day 2007, the NYC condom is the United States’ first municipally branded prophylactic. More than 40 million of the male condoms will be distributed free in city bars, clinics, gyms and other locations. This year is the first for a wrapper design contest.
Dr. Monica Sweeney, the assistant New York City health commissioner, said, “We want everybody to think and talk about condoms all the time.”
If you are like me and have seen the Miller Beer “Vortex” bottle billboard, you’ve probably also wondered why anyone might want their beer to pour out into a “vortex.” In recent years MillerCoors introduced its cold-activated bottle, a useful innovation where the mountains on the label turn blue when your beverage is at its optimum temperature. However, I don’t see the same level of creativity with the Vortex, which, according to a MillerCoors sales rep, is a bottle with specially designed interior grooves that “create a vortex as you’re pouring the beer.” This innovation is intended to “create buzz and excitement and give consumers another reason to choose Miller.” For me, it’s just a different-shaped bottle that won’t provide much consumer benefit. MillerCoors’ advertising agency is Saatchi & Saatchi.
PepsiCo recently hired PR giant and “branding guru” Peter Arnell—spending nearly $30 million on the Tropicana brand alone, including the juice package redesign rollout. My wife brought home the newly-packaged OJ and you would have to agree with me—it’s a disaster. According to AdAge, PepsiCo is junking the new design it launched early February, switching back to the “orange skewered by a drinking straw” motif.
As an example, let’s compare the orange-pineapple brand designs:
OLD: Deep oranges, rich greens and brightly-colored pieces of pineapple whet the appetite. A clearly-written deep violet label states the product within.
“NEW”: Ever drink Sunny-D? This reminds me of that. An anemic shade of orange (yellow?) in a glass, and no pictures of any actual fruit. The whole presentation seems washed out. Can you find “pineapple” anywhere on the package? There it is! Under the plain Avant-Garde typography reading “100%.” It appears they were using as a springboard Target’s effectively clean private labeling. For me, “I give it only a 42… I definitely can’t dance to it!” Meanwhile, Minute Maid is snarfing juice through its collective noses.
With more than 15,000 online votes, Luis Acosta, a 29-year-old graphic designer from Queens, New York, won the NYC condom package design contest. The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced that Acosta’s design with an “on” power button would adorn six million limited-edition free condoms set for release this year.
