No Quarter Pounder

(images via: Neil Duckett and InventorSpot)

McDonald’s is one of the world’s most recognized brands, yet this enviable position isn’t completely to the liking of the powers at McD Japan. How else to explain the opening of two Quarter Pounder stores in Tokyo? Decked out in upscale black & red decor and without a clown in sight, customers wondering what the “big secret” was were offered a mere two menu choices: a Quarter Pounder or a Double Quarter Pounder, both with cheese. Even the packaging is as generic as possible.

(image via: Core77)

So, just who’s fooling who here? Who smiles inwardly, McDonald’s execs or Quarter Pounder customers? It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters.

No Brand, No Problem

(image via: PopSop)

Is anti-branding subversive? Yes and yes – product pushers are, in effect, trying to put one over on consumers who, by buying no-brand items, think they’re doing their part in a wider campaign that embraces an anti-corporate methodology. Everybody’s happy and in the end, more product gets sold. Customers may even find themselves attracted to a product that instead of trying to lure them into buying, does just the opposite – like the prototype anti-brand cigarette boxes above, designed by Pentagram as a response to possible plain black-and-white cigarette packs that may soon me mandated by the federal government.

(images via: We Made This and Alistair Hall)

Pentagram’s designs add Goth appeal while (mainly) staying within the proposed guidelines. The set above distills the text and graphic ad copy down to a bare minimum yet even these packs will likely do little to dissuade smokers from lighting up.

P.B.R.: Busch League No Longer

(images via: Mastergrape and Adlicious)

Pabst Blue Ribbon… the King Of Beers, it ain’t. With sales down 90 percent since 1975 it was a dying breed – rumors began to spread that Pabst was about to kick the beer bucket. Brand image? It barely had one as marketing budgets were scraping the bottom of the barrel. In short, Pabst was a sitting duck for unorganized hipster hijackers who saw the brand’s negatives as positives. The underdog low-brow brew took on a new life as “P.B.R.” and sales rose faster than foam on draft poured into a dirty mug. Pabst, the subversive beer with no brand… which is ironic in a way, as Pabst no longer brews its own beer. It’s all sourced from Miller.

No Logo Too Low

(images via: TAGG.org and McSpotlight)

Naomi Klein’s 2000 best-seller No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies was arguably the first stab at distilling the essence of anti-branding and its roots in modern corporate/consumer culture. With sections titled No Space, No Choice, No Jobs and finally No Logo, the book explores themes ranging from the birth of the anti-globalization movement to the phenomenon of McJobs. Klein’s exploration of consumerism’s soft underbelly has been trumpeted by some and trashed by others, the latter most memorably by Warren Ellis who, as Doktor Sleepless, stated “Even No Logo had a fucking logo on it”.

No Hijack Too High

(images via: LangLang, Kinokuniya and AUCTION/Korea)

Following up on No Logo several years later in 2005 was Brand Hijack: Marketing Without Marketing by Alex Wipperfürth. Brand Hijack cleaves more closely to the traditional business guru tome while proposing a most un-traditional strategy for marketers: “Let go of the fallacy that your brand belongs to you. It belongs to the market.” At the same time, Wipperfürth addresses control issues that give corporate execs and product planners night chills by reminding us all that, as he puts it, “consumers fine-tune products, not create them.”

The Bucks Stops Here

(images via: JoshC and BeerBeer)

Looking for a cuppa java but put off by those cookie cutter coffee kiosks foisting faux ambiance at a premium price? You betcha! Turning up your nose at yet another Starbucks, you decide to try the neighborly named 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea. Sorry, you’ve been fooled again. Meet the new haus, same as the old haus… with one noteworthy exception: 15th Avenue stores will sell beer and wine along with selected Starbucks coffees and teas.

“No Brand, Good Product”

(images via: Ecolect and 7inch)

McDonald’s and Starbucks have dallied with unbranding but everyone gets the joke – and many are not amused. Perhaps the purest way to go no logo is to start off that way, and let the products speak for themselves without crafting a brand image. It works; Muji has established itself as a good quality, great value retailer without the use of overt branding. If you’re wondering what “Muji” means, it’s short for Mujirushi Ryohin which translates to “no brand, good product.”

(image via: Useful and Agreeable)

True, Muji’s products share a certain basic, simplistic style that extends from the smallest kitchen utensils to actual houses and cars, but everything is subsumed in a common, form-follows-function design ethos. Muji has expanded from its Japanese base by opening stores in Europe and the USA, proving an appealing concept knows no boundaries.

Blackspot, The Anti-Brand Brand

(image via: The Discerning Brute)

The Classic Blackspot Sneaker and v2.0: The Unswoosher shoes make a statement with sole. Conceived by anti-branding bible Adbusters, Blackspot is a brand that seeks to beat corporate bully-boy Nike at their own game; by playing fair. No outsourcing, no sweatshop labor, no environmentally unfriendly manufacturing is what Blackspot preaches and practices.

(images via: Bizzia and CultCase)

Sez Adbusters, “the Blackspot, from it’s red toe-tip and hand-drawn anti-logo to its renegade billboards and TV ads, is designed to do only one thing: kick megacorporate ass. We’re going to cut into Nike’s market share, unswoosh that tired old swoosh and give birth to a new kind of cool in the sneaker industry.”

Unbranding For Dummies

(image via: Keri Smith)

Well, that’s a little harsh – how about Unbranding @ Home, though the “For Dummies” was in reference to anyone being able to unbrand on their own no matter how brand-washed they might be. Keri Smith is a champion of DIY unbranding and she takes the concept to where we live. Why be blasted by Kelloggs hype every morning when one of Smith’s home-made cereal box skins can educate, illuminate and uplift your life just as your day is beginning? Even a pack of gum can serve an alternate purpose… as a subway map.

The Unbranded Home

(images via: Trendhunter and Apartment Therapy)

Modern society offers few refuges from the constant drone of branded advertising – even our homes aren’t safe… or are they? One way to rid personal living space of brand clutter is to use generic home products displayed in plain containers with de-branded labels, and at least one company, DeBranded Home Labels, offers an easy way to do just that. Sure it’s a pain to transfer liquid soap and so on from branded to non-branded bottles; the solution is to buy bulk generics and fill up the smaller containers as needed. Bonus: DeBranded Home Labels don’t even have “Debranded Home Labels” logos on their stickers.

Though recession economics have forced many to cut back on big buck brands in favor of generic, unbranded alternatives, the power of The Brand was arguably into a slump of its own. Is society wising up to Madison Avenue manipulation or are we just making better individual lifestyle choices? You decide.

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You’re crammed into a tiny space with several other people, spending an average of thirty seconds staring at either the floor or the wall. That’s what makes elevator advertisements and art so brilliant – people have little choice but to look. Marketers and artists have taken advantage of this very captive audience in some brilliant ways, from creating optical illusions with stickers to transforming the space into an apartment or even a disco club.

Elevator Skydive

(image via: Cool Hunter)

Anyone who’s afraid of heights might think twice about riding in this elevator, which seems to reveal a shocking view of a city far below the riders’ feet. But this is no glass elevator located at a dizzying distance above the ground – it’s just a large sticker affixed to the floor. The ad was created for a Swiss skydiving school, giving people a taste of what you experience when leaping from an airplane.

Disco Elevator

(image via: YouTube)

A girl waiting for an elevator got quite a surprise when the door opened to reveal a lively miniature disco club, complete with afros, polyester suits and a shimmering, spinning disco ball. It’s all the work of prankster Rémi Gaillard, who has been called “the French equivalent to Johnny Knoxville.”

Cleverly Painted Elevator Floor Illusion

(image via: Oddee)

Would you even step foot into this elevator if it appeared to have no floor, especially considering that a sign at the entrance cautions users that the elevator is still under construction? If you were brave enough to walk inside you’d find that it’s actually a cleverly designed paint job that gives the illusion of a bottomless elevator shaft underfoot.

Elevator Ad Shows Man’s Insides

(image via: AdvertNews)

Another form of elevator advertising uses an image displayed on the outer doors that reveals something new when the doors are opened, as in this example where a man’s chest is opened to reveal his insides. This ad was made for the Body Worlds 2 Exhibit, a traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts.

Living Life in a Lift for One Day

(image via: Dornob)

Could you live in a space this small? A Dutch art student transformed an elevator into a living space complete with table, coffee maker, lights, books, shelves and a clock. She spent an entire day there, eating, relaxing, reading and working. Anyone who called for the elevator throughout the day was surprised to find the cozy ‘apartment’ and its nonchalant occupant.

Wake Up!

(image via: Advertolog)

Design firm Ogilvy Beijing of China created this ad for Maxwell House as a ’shot of adrenaline’ – when the doors opened, sleepy people in an office building were shocked awake, providing an effect that the designers figured mimics the effects of drinking a cup of coffee. The ad reportedly caused a commotion on the morning of its launch as surprised office workers crowded the lobby. It drew a crowd from people in neighboring buildings for the next week.

Oreo Elevator

(image via: Ads of the World)

Oreo has branded itself as ‘milk’s favorite cookie’, and this ad plays up that tagline to a T, pairing a sticker of a glass on the outside of a glass elevator enclosure with a cookie sticker on the elevator itself. Watching one of the sugary confections slowly descend into a gigantic glass of milk as the elevator reached the ground undoubtedly had onlookers salivating.

Can’t Fit Through the Door? Time to Hit the Gym.

(image via: Starling Fitness)

It’s a nightmare scenario for anyone who’s self-conscious about their weight: a door that’s too small to fit through. The Fitness Company, based in Germany, created this ad in the hopes that it would nudge people into joining their gyms to get slimmer.

Gold’s Gym Bodybuilder Elevator Ad

(image via: Ads of the World)

If gyms are successful at goading people into getting fit, eventually they’ll be strong enough to pry open elevator doors with nothing but the amazingly powerful muscles in their arms. At least, that’s what this ad by Gold’s Gym seems to promise with its leathery, barrel-thighed bodybuilder.

Art Installation in an Elevator Shaft

(image via: John Davis Gallery)

Painted paper lanterns by artist Yura Adams are perfectly displayed in an empty elevator shaft in this art installation at the John Davis Gallery in Hudson, New York.

Elevator as Aquarium

(image via: Ads of the World)

Jelly Tots Sweets made elevator rides a lot more fun for kids and adults alike with this ‘experiential elevator’ ad, which transformed the entire elevator into an aquarium – including the outside doors.

A Trippy Elevator to Your Dreams

(image via: Cool Design Ideas)

next floor from dotdotdot on Vimeo.

Elevators are just a quick way to get from point A to point B, which are usually just a few floors apart. An art installation at the Design/Art Fair in Verona, Italy challenged that notion, transforming the elevator into the mode of transport for an interactive dream journey, going from one fantastical world to the next.

Going Down? You’ll Have to Share Her Bed

(images via: SSW)

Do you want to skip the stairs badly enough to invade a girl’s privacy by stepping or sitting on her bed while she sleeps? This installation by Ruth Pringle forced users to make that decision, placing a double bed in an elevator along with bedding and a girl in pajamas. The project aimed to remind people of voyeurism, vulnerability and “the power within everyone to harm others”.

Random Lift Button

(image via: Guerrilla Innovation)

Sometimes, you’ve just got to give in to chaos and randomness. That’s the idea behind the ‘random lift button’, installed by artist Chris Speed in two elevators in Portland Square at the University of Plymouth in England. When you press the button, you end up on a random floor where you can meet people and experience things that you wouldn’t otherwise have experienced had you skipped that floor and simply gone to your original destination.

Interactive Displays at Ars Electronica

(image via: Muonics)

The Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria is a center for electronic arts often referred to as the ‘Museum of the Future’. Fascinating technology is incorporated into every aspect of the building, including the elevators, where screens on the floor and/or walls provide an interactive experience. The floor screen simulates a virtual space underneath the elevator inhabited by ’sonic particles’ that multiply as the elevator rises. The wall screen shows the progression of evolution moving forward as the elevator rises and backward as it goes down.

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Custom vinyl car wraps, commonly called car wraps or vehicle wraps, have become very popular. This relatively new and rapidly growing industry relies on wildly creative precision graphic design teams and skilled installers. While many car wraps are installed for commercial purposes, there is also a growing demand for more personal designs, reminiscent of Americanized art trucks of Pakistan.

The Tattoo Car

(images via: Action Graphics and Signs)

The tattoo car is a full wrap and serves as a memorial to Paul Rodgers and Carolina Slim. Action Graphics and Signs designed the graphics and wrapped the vehicle. It is an every day personal vehicle, so this wrap gets a lot of attention.

Sleek and Animalistic Wrap Designs

(images via: Super Wraps)

At Super Wraps, the focus is on unique design. This company offers completely original custom vinyl car wraps or allows you to choose a pre-made design for your vehicle. Vinyl car wraps can be short-term or long-term, and partially or fully cover the vehicle.

Car for a Cause

(images via: Action Graphics and Signs)

This car was wrapped by Action Graphics and Signs for breast cancer awareness. Shawn Pilkington drives the brightly wrapped pink car in support of his wife who has battled breast cancer.

Larger Than Life Vehicle Wraps

(images via: Skinz Wraps)

Skinz Wraps has several locations in the U.S. and provides complete vehicle wrap services. This leading company in vinyl vehicle wraps employs top designers and installers and does not sub-contract any part of the process. They offer the “flat black” wrap that is stunning, but somewhat hard to find.

Car Wraps Are All the Rage

(images via: Rage Wraps)

Rage Wraps in Illinois provides bold and unique designer graphics on vinyl to transform any vehicle into a work of art. The company focuses on commercial designs to get businesses noticed out on the street.

Rolling Billboards

(images via: Vehicle Wraps)

 
There’s nothing subtle about the work done by Vehicle Wraps. Here vehicle wraps are larger than life and promote the latest trends. Since vinyl car wraps can be frequently changed, they are a quick, easy and less expensive alternative to custom paint. All that, plus they protect the paint underneath from the sun and minor scuffs and scratches.

Vinyl Car Wraps Make an Impact

(images via: National Impact Wraps)

At National Impact Wraps in Texas, they have perfected vinyl car wraps down to a science. The company competes in vehicle wrap competitions and provides striking designs for corporate and personal vehicles.

National Appeal

(images via: CarWraps.net)

CarWraps.net is a national company specializing in corporate fleet vinyl vehicle wraps. Working on such a large scale allows the company to keep costs lower. In addition to corporate fleet car warps, CarWraps also designs and installs custom vinyl graphics on personal vehicles.

Vinyl Car Wrap Training and Competition

(images via: 360 Wraps)

360 Wraps in Texas not only designs custom vinyl car wraps, they provide training to educate others on the proper wrapping techniques. The company also participates in speed wrap competitions and are great sports, even when they don’t win. Perfection takes time.

The Vinyl Car Wrap Process

(images via: 360 Wraps)

Laura from 360 Wraps shares some photos of the car wrap process. Digital designs are created based on a vehicle-specific template. The designs are then printed on vinyl with adhesive backing. The vinyl is then precision cut to fit and skillfully applied to the vehicle.

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My Country, Right Or… Right!

(images via: Classic Posters and Museum of Russian Posters)

Propaganda can have a wide or narrow focus; many examples of the former generally seek to boost pride in the host country without any particular goal in mind. Above are a few attempts at pictorial nation-boosting. From upper left: France, Finland, USA, Cuba, USA again, Soviet Union.

Propaganda For Fun & Profit

(images via: Leyton Jay, Superpunch and Drawn!)

Why so serious? Propaganda has often been SO serious and over-the-top that it invites parody. By injecting a note of humor into traditionally staid & solid imagery we can derive amusement from belittling the propagandists while enjoying the jarring inconsistency between, say, the Soviet Threat personified by an army of Kermit or Bert clones.

Propzilla?

(images via: Into The Fuzz)

Above are a few more modern homages to stereotypical propaganda posters, mainly of the early Soviet style. The highlight is the bright & bold 10th anniversary Mozilla artwork by Lee Tom (above right) that nicely updates the original Mozilla art created by Shepard Fairey (above left) back in 1998. To quote, “Our goal was to create a piece that retained the bold, constructivist graphic style of the original without the “happy worker” Communist imagery that understandably rubbed some in our community the wrong way.”

Sports Propaganda

(images via: Sports Propaganda)

Chris Speakman’s Sports Propaganda limited edition prints and posters draw on the rich history of graphic propaganda. If you’re gonna support the team, there’s not much more you can do – besides painting your face, of course.

Music Propaganda

(image via: Manteldernacht)

The bold imagery of propaganda posters has often been used by musicians and bands for their album/CD cover artwork. Examples above include, from upper left, Laibach (1988), Bram Tchaikovsky (1979), XTC (1979) and Superkollider (2001).

(images via: Discogs)

One would be remiss in missing the obscure but completely relevant 1979 new wave compilation from Canada titled Propaganda: A Blatant Attempt to Influence Your Musical Taste. It came with a large fold-out poster of the cover (featuring Mao Tse-tung rockin’ out) which looked very cool on this writer’s wall way back when.

I Want You, UK!

(images via: The Age and AllPosters)

The classic “I Want You!” war recruitment poster is rather mild as propaganda goes but they do use nationalistic imagery to boost their appeal. Most people are familiar with the Uncle Sam version, which incidentally is a self-portrait of an artist with the very patriotic name of Montgomery Flagg. That poster first appeared in 1917 but the original “I Want You” debuted in Great Britain several years earlier and featured the head of the British Army, Field Marshal Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener.

I Want You, USA!

(images via: AllPosters and Son Of The South)

And here we have the Uncle Sam version which was used to great effect for over a half century, from 1917 up to the time of the Vietnam War in the mid sixties. Also shown is the less well known Navy version, also dating from 1917.

Russian Futurism Turns The Page

(images via: Soviet Posters, Cara Ellison and Slava Gerovitch)

The Soviet Union hasn’t given all that much to Western culture – Tetris excluded – but their graphic propaganda has stood the test of time, if only for its inimitable style and visual impact. One reason early communist propaganda is so striking, even today, is that many of the artists who created these Soviet posters were students of Constructivism who sought to break art down to its basic building blocks. Easy does it, as they say!

Red Skies At Night

(images via: Dictatorship Of The Air)

Here are some more Soviet propaganda posters; these look to the sky for the glorious future of Marxist-Leninism. Bring on the Red Zeppelins… that’s a whole lotta blimps.

How Now, Mao?

(images via: Celestial Kitsune and One Inch Punch)

“Red China” picked up the propaganda habit where the Soviets left off, adding singular features to appeal to traditional Confucianism in Chinese society. Also imported and even expanded was the cult of personality, mainly centered on Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Tse-tung.

The East Is Read

(images via: Landsberger, Dennis Yang and China Media Blog)

Not all Chinese pictorial propaganda revolved around Mao, as the examples above illustrate, but his famous little red book often subs for him. Typical features of all Chinese propaganda include heavy use of the color red and a patriotic message exhorting the proletariat to bigger and better things on behalf of the Party – and the country.

Going To Extremes: North Korea

(images via: Dark Roasted Blend)

Nowhere in the world has propaganda been taken to such bombastic heights as in North Korea. As bizarre and ridiculous as some of The Hermit Kingdom’s anti-American propaganda may seem, one must consider that in many cases the message is being aimed at a captive population who have no access to outside sources of information. One especially fierce, definitely disturbing image (above, top) shows a DPRK soldier crushing the U.S. capitol dome while shouting in patriotic glee. Nice… and these guys DO have WMDs.

Oh Che Can You See…

(images via: Hey Che!)

The poster boy – literally – for revolutionary propaganda has to be Argentinean-born Marxist guerrilla Che Guevara. Though he was captured and executed in Bolivia in 1967, the photograph of Guevara that has been reproduced innumerable times was taken 7 years earlier by Alberto Korda. Among the many artists who helped immortalize Guevara via Korda’s 1960 photo was Andy Warhol. As bright, bold and bombastic as so much of the past century’s graphic propaganda has been, very little can hold a candle to this one iconic image of a single man, single-minded in his devotion to a cause.

This overview of propaganda touched only lightly on its use – and abuse – during wartime. Stay tuned for more Pugnacious Propaganda: The Art of War, coming soon!

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Beer has come a long way since breweries first had the idea of developing can packaging nearly 100 years ago. In the early 1900s, breweries had a problem producing a can that would withstand the pasteurization process and allow the beer to still taste good when it reached the consumer. In order to withstand the heat and pressure of the process, the first beer cans were constructed of tin and steel and were much more thick and sturdy than the ones we see today. By 1935, the first commercially produced beer in a can hit the market.

Early Beer Can Styles and Designs

(images via: rustycans, umn)

American Can Co. began experimenting with canned beer in 1931, as it anticipated the end of Prohibition. Krueger’s Special Beer was the first commercially packaged beer in a can.  The very first canned beer was sold in Richmond, Virginia in 1935. Early on, manufacturers were mostly concerned with creating a beer can that could hold up to the heat and pressure of the pasteurization process without bursting or later leaking on the store shelves. Style and branding were considered, but were not a top priority in the beginning. Pabst was the first major brewer to offer beer in a can.

Rare, Unusual and Special Edition Beer Cans

(images via: umn, blogsmonroe, cantstopthebleeding, worth1000, baseballforum, ebeercans)

After methods of packaging beer into durable cans were developed, the real treat for consumers and collectors were the colorful designs on the cans.  Beer would still not taste great coming from a can for several decades.  Manufacturers began releasing special edition and novelty cans with lively images and color schemes to attract consumers and compensate for the canned beer taste.  Some of these early cans, if still in good condition, are now worth thousands of dollars to collectors.  This Cordell Brand can was produced in 1963 by the Hauglie Brewing Company and features the “Even The Cat Enjoys It!!!” slogan.  This slogan was only included on one run of the labeling and was removed after complaints from animal rights groups.  This is one of the most rare and valuable cans in existence and it is highly sought after by serious collectors.

Craft Brewery Beer Cans

(images via: blogaboutbeer)

Canned beer became popular in the 1960s, but consumers still had to put up with beer that tasted more like the can than it did beer.  Over the years, technology has improved and even craft beer manufacturers are now comfortable with packaging their products in cans. Cans are now specially coated with a water-based finish that prevents the beer from coming in contact with the aluminum. Packaging beer in cans is less expensive than in glass bottles and the cans are 100% recyclable, making them an attractive option, especially in today’s economic climate.

Vintage Beer Can Collections

(images via: bigchief, greenmon, umn, francisanderson)

Vintage beer can collections are generally comprised of three distinct types of packaging: flat top, cone top and pull tops. The earliest can designs were flat tops and consumers were on their own when it came to opening them.  Generally a triangle shaped can opener was used to puncture the tops of the cans and make an opening in this style of can. Soon conetop cans were introduced and the six pack was born in 1938. The packaging was thick and six packs of beer were deemed too heavy for housewives to pick up on weekly grocery shopping trips.   By 1960, the last conetop beer cans were produced and manufacturers tried using an aluminum top on steel cans to make them easier to open.  In 1962, the first pull-tab beer hit the market, in 1965 ring-top cans were introduced and in 1974 a short-lived push-button beer can was used on some brands.  Most canned beers now use the pull-tab packaging.

Modern Beer Can Designs

(images via: viZZZual, umn)

With the exception of promotional and limited edition can designs, most major breweries now package canned beer in very recognizable, iconic cans. The most popular beer brands are instantly recognizable by the simple label designs. Beer marketing and advertising relies on the recognition of the label, so modern packaging is generally all about branding.

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