01 October 2012

Themed printed packaging; winter wonderland – part 1

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Christmas products are already appearing on the shelves of UK stores, more than three months in advance of December 25.

I had planned to take a few weeks off after concluding my summer 2012 supermarket odyssey blog series with my “Pride of Britain Packaging Awards”, dipping back into photographing products for events less well celebrated in the UK, such as Halloween.

However, upon going shopping a few days ago ago, I was confronted with a wall of Christmas themed packaging that I couldn’t resist photographing in situ on the shelves of my local supermarkets in the UK.

And so, to the disappointment of my wife who was very much looking forward to some time off from my search from interesting themed packaging, I begin my winter wonderland blog series.

As with my unscientific “study” of themed packaging related to summer’s special events, such as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics, I’m on the lookout for any packaging, flexible or carton, decorated with Santa Claus, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, snowflakes, snowmen or other festive characters and emblems.

As you’d imagine, many confectionery companies have been quick to bring Christmas packaging to market, with Cadbury, Nestlé and Mars all having selection boxes, gift tubes and individual sweets on the shelf featuring Christmas decoration.

Nestlé Smarties tubes, described as a perfect stocking filler, are decorated with a festive bow design, and are available in both blue and pink to suit the gender of the person they’re being given to as a present.

Other Nestlé brands on offer in tubes decorated with a Christmas theme include Munchies, which are milk chocolate covered sweets with a soft caramel and crisp biscuit center, and Milkybar buttons, white chocolate sweets.

The Milkybar tube (pictured, right) is decorated with a cartoon image of Santa Claus riding in his sleigh alongside the famous Milkybar Kid, the fictional character that has been used to promote the Milkybar brand since the 1960s.

Away from the tube format, Nestlé Aero chocolate Christmas trees (pictured, below) are also available, individually wrapped in flexible packaging featuring an enticing image of the product inside, plus a silver bow.

Cadbury wishes (pictured, above), while not strictly a Christmas product, take on the appearance of being special to this time of the year due to the star shape of the chocolates, and the gold pentangular box they are retailed in.

Away from chocolate, jelly sweet manufacturer Haribo is offering “Merry Snowmen” and “Jolly Santas” in treat-size flexible packaging bags, while away from confectionery altogether, Lego has released a new series of Minifigures featuring some 16 characters, an English businessman wearing a bowler hat to a Lederhosen Guy, complete with pretzel.

Inspired by movies, sports, history and just everyday life, Series 8 of the Lego Minifigures also includes a Santa Claus figurine, which is replicated on the display unit and the flexible packaging that each model is individually sold in.

I’m again looking for your assistance in compiling this blog with entries from around the world welcomed in my study. I’m one man going shopping in a handful of supermarkets, predominantly in the UK, so while I’ll be snapping everything I see that’s got a Christmas or generally festive theme, I’d love to see anything from your part of the world that takes the holiday spirit and represents it through packaging.

If you do have anything images to share, the best way to do so is via Twitter, where you can reference my handle, @D_Pittman_PPW, and use the hashtag #xmaspackaging.

You can also email me any pictures to [email protected].

I’ll be keeping an eye open for Halloween themed packaging at the same time, so if there’s any packaging to be seen featuring pumpkins, ghouls or other spooky decoration, tweet that to, again mentioning @D_Pittman_PPW but this time using the hashtag #halloweenpack.