Orbit Gum by Wrigley has always taken the humorous approach to their ads, claiming to clean up dirty mouths (in a figurative sense), led by a blonde and bubbly British woman. I'm sure you've all see the ads, and if not, here's a link to one of the first commercials by them.
Just recently I've noticed that the packaging to the gum has changed. Now it is no longer a couple flat colors with a simple graphic indicating the flavor. Now one can find visually appealing shapes and patterns on the packages of gum that subtly reflect the flavor by using the corresponding color. Because of this, Orbit gum has become somewhat of a fashion statement. Advertising strategy aside, however, I chose this topic because I thought, hey, here's an example of illustration. However, I wasn't sure that if the rest of the class would see it that way because of the more graphic nature of the designs. Upon my Google search for an answer, I came across a video advertising Orbit that not only screams illustration, but was done by an artist whose work we can find scattered around the streets of Chicago.
We know this artist by the name of "Goons" and his big toothed, red lipped characters are totally unique from any other street art (examples here). The same mouth is used for all of Goons's characters and is probably why Orbit reached out to him to make this video, which is reminiscent of a video another student posted, where the street art comes to life. In this video, Goon's infamous red mouths are traveling all over the streets and neighborhood, cleaning up anything in its tracks. It feels as though Wrigley is reaching out to a younger, more hip audience with their Orbit brand by assigning a mysterious street artist to their advertising and creating better and brighter packaging.
Am I the only one who buys gum based on the packaging over the flavor? I personally am a fan of trident gum but 5gum and Orbit are just so much better designed so I tend to buy those instead.
ReplyDeleteIt's my weakness kind of in general..
ReplyDeleteI’ve always loved and hated Orbits commercials, wanting to see what new ones they’ll come out with but annoyed after they are repeated over and over again. I don’t chew gum, so I wouldn’t be aware of the changes of packaging. Anyways, the animation I enjoyed completely, took a moment to realizes that the mouths were actually cleaning (should have read comment first before watching animation, hehe) I’ve never seen his work on the streets sadly, but they are pretty nice. However style wise, I’m not a big fan, but when brought to life like in this animation, for some reason my view of it changed, that I think I only like their work when it has life/movement to it. Not sure why.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I found a interview that was had with Goons, gives more of a insight into who he is maybe, if anyone’s interested (I found it interesting anyways): http://trueslant.com/fruzsinaeordogh/2009/10/15/conversations-with-goons-a-local-street-artist/
Back to Orbits though, I like the style of this packaging, how it’s a bunch of circles cut in half that very in size. Simple shapes, that look like vines or part of flowers to me. I like the choice of colors, what flavor of gum would this package been for?
Interesting interview, thank you! And the flavor I posted is "Bubblemint".
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