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Cabel Sasser

Some product redesigns spotted live in the wild. (New on right.)

The last one is especially shocking to me — after all this time, they finally bit the bullet and renamed to what everyone (non-Canadian) calls it already!! Huge news!

Think of the lawyer time involved

37 comments
Louie Mantia, Jr.

@cabel I don't see an ® on either Macaroni & Cheese or Mac & Cheese boxes (not that it's necessary, but also it's a generic term so it may be unregisterable), so— maybe minimal lawyer time??

Luke

@cabel as a Canadian, I find this offensive

alex.tm

@splitletters @cabel As a Canadian, I find this confusing. I think I’ve only ever heard it called Mac and Cheese. What do other Canadians call it?

Luke

@alextm @cabel ........Kraft Dinner?

I genuinely don't believe you're Canadian if you don't know that, that's like being a German who hasn't heard of schnitzel, or an American who hates apple pie

Cabel Sasser

@splitletters @alextm See also Barenaked Ladies, “If I Had $1,000,000” (1992)

alex.tm

@splitletters @cabel Ok, yeah, now I remember hearing that as a kid. I haven’t heard it in years though, but I did live outside of Canada for a long time.

Amgine

@splitletters @alextm @cabel

<laughing> In our house it has been "KD" for so long I had to stop and think about this one!

Nick Frühling

@splitletters @cabel Seeing @alextm is in Vancouver actually makes sense because it’s a regionalism that only applies to everyone else in Canada the10and3.com/this-is-how-cana

alex.tm

@nickfruhling @splitletters @cabel You mean I just really might be an actual Canadian after all? ;)

Thanks for this map, it makes sense. I grew up in Ontario (where I would have heard it as a kid), moved to Germany (where “mac and cheese” isn’t a thing because käsespätzle exists), then came back to Canada, but Vancouver.

Regionalism in language is really interesting. I’ve changed a few of mine over the years (“pop” became “soda” at some point that I didn’t consciously notice!)

James Cridland

@cabel Rather boringly, I suspect neither "Macaroni & cheese" nor "Mac & cheese" are trademarkable, since they are both generic, so unlikely that lawyers were involved.

But in a minute I'll post a redesign from Australia that I think you'll enjoy.

Cabel Sasser

@james @louie I was kidding about the lawyers (for Louie) but I did definitely look it up!!

"No claim is made to the exclusive right to use 'Mac & Cheese'"

I love that the Goods & Services is "Macaroni and Cheese"

Louie Mantia, Jr.

@cabel @james Right, they can register a trademark for the style of the mark, but not for the words.

Eric Schwarz :yikes:

@cabel Do you remember the ads from years ago where it was “Kraft Cheese & Macaroni” and then the logo on the box would animate to its proper order?

Also, I just now discovered that Ruffles uses the older branding in Canada still (thought the packaging for the all dressed chips I brought back looked funny.)

wqoq

@ecschwarz @cabel Oh my gosh. Thank you. I’ve been losing my mind thinking I was the only one who remembers those ads. I don’t remember the animation but to this day I still call it “cheese & macaroni”, and I’m Canadian.

Chris Dreiling

@cabel Fanta: 🙂
Jell-O: 😁
Blue Box: 🙂

Blake Stoddard

@cabel have you spotted the Diamond Kosher Salt rebrand?

Robert Brodrecht

@cabel You May find this episode of a Change of Brand insteresting RE Kraft Mac & Cheese: achangeofbrand.com/episodes/kr

Michael Gemar

@cabel The cowards should have just renamed it Kraft Dinner.

Ben Bloodworth

@cabel The era of over-rendered logos and packaging is finally coming to an end. I welcome the simpler branding. Feels like a modern take on logos/marketing from the 60s.

Ben Bloodworth

@cabel However, I still can't get onboard with that Fanta redesign. Feels half-baked, and the old one allowed the whole name to be visible on the shelf.

Michael Gifford-Santos

For those interested in design and branding, this blog is a great resource: underconsideration.com/brandne

TapTap 🎮

@cabel huh. Better readability, definitely more "modern", but all pretty bland.

Same parent companies? The design logic seems similar

Chuck Jordan

@cabel I like them individually but placed together it looks like brands are gradually converging on the same font, and it’ll be like the opposite of the Renault Le Car days, when everybody wanted to be more Garamond.

Andrew Salter

@cabel the Jello is my favorite of these! Fanta and Mac & Cheese are a little cute

Dominic Hopton

@cabel feels like the jello & mac n cheese changes are partly to reduce the printing costs by reducing the colours involved… right?

Marc Robinson :mastodon:

@grork @cabel At the volumes they print, any cost difference would amount to a rounding error.

Dominic Hopton

@marcintosh @cabel never underestimate the rounding error on that kinda volume. Might be small, but small times ten billion… that might be big.

Marc Robinson :mastodon:

@grork @cabel As a graphic designer for 25+ years, who has designed all manor of collateral material and packaging, it is my opinion that the new designs are not cheaper to produce than the old designs. ¢¢

DarkGamer

@cabel Your honor, we never said it contained macaroni. We are aware that the new formulation cannot be legally classified as such.

John Lagomarsino

@cabel the Jello looks great, except for the drop shadow on the flavor text. It’s just a little too much.

Григорий Клюшников

TIL that "jell-o" is an actual brand name

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