That packaging should be louder, angrier, and have access to a time machine.

I don't think the package is that bad. There should be more orange and less white though.

@BuddyGuyMontag: And don't forget it should be proactive!

"I'm sorry I have to go now. My home planet awaits me"

*New Tropicana design flies out of cell*

NOTE: The Tropicana packaging died on the way back to its home planet

When I saw the new Tropicana, at first I thought it was "Safeway Select" brand orange juice. This is NOT a good thing, as Safeway Select is generally of lower quality than "brand names".

"4. The episode introduces a beloved, if flawed, secondary character to the Simpson's universe."

Miss Roy.

Oh my god, that top is so cool! The rest does look generic, though.

This article is TOTALLY IN MY FACE

I don't see what the big deal is. It's a freaking carton of OJ. It's not like it has a giant picture of boobs on it or something that would cause people to really freak out.

Ugh. Dissenters are such aesthetic plebeians. This is OJ 2.0!

It was probably more like this:
Marketing idiot 1: Hey, how can we get a lot of free publicity?

Marketing idiot 2: We could change the packaging, say people got unhappy with it and go back to the old packaging.

Marketing idiot 3: It would cost money to design a new package.

Marketing idiot 4: Not really, we'll stick an ad on craigslist for an intern. They could do it.

Head Marketing idiot: Brilliant. Let's go to lunch!

This is funny. I do all the shopping for my family, and saw all these sales for the newly packaged Tropicana, and I honestly bought a more expensive orange juice because I was convinced by the quality of the packaging that this new cartoon must have had sugar added or something. It was cheaper and generic looking. This is the second story I've seen on this orange juice.

The little cap is cute. And the Pepsi re-design was far costlier and with quite the terrible result.

@rainbowsandkittens: Um...I didn't know this was an aesthetically aristocratic website?

I really don't see what the problem is. Its streamlined, its clear type. Its everything that is *now* about design (which may be the problem) but...

I can understand the people who have a problem with not being able to tell the difference between the *types* but personally there's too many TYPES of orange juice to begin with.

Its orange juice, what else do you need to know?

In terms of being an orange beverage that's edgy, in-your-face and a totally outrageous paradigm, you have to give the Poochie marketing award to Sunny Delight.

Unleash the power of the sun!

Let's all hope that the next Poochie is Pepsi's new logotype, really!

I haven't bought a Pepsi product since it came out. It's just that unappealing.

And as to your point of #3, I do not see HOW it looks anything remotely "generic".

This is what generic OJ looks like:

Generic OJ comes in a MILK JUG.

@RonnieDobbs4President:

Lets not forget EXTREEM and in your face!

@dddoistutter: Hehehe. Had that moment too, I was wondering where they put the Tropicana.

FWIW, I really liked the new packaging. I was walking in the grocery store, saw it, and actually discussed how nice it was with the person I was with.

@BrandonOBrien: The problem is that people have been buying the original box for so long that when they change the design so much they get lost in finding what they are used to buying.

This does in fact look like a store brand. The quality may have not changed, but it's harder to find and other (potential customers) may mark it off as a generic brand.

@RonnieDobbs4President: Can you rastafy him by about 10%?

This is actually better than a lot of other recent product redesigns, and I'm not just saying that because I'm in love with the cap.

Still, I'm getting tired of all these rebrandings that look like the result of a "Design Our New Label" contest for high school graphic design students; case in point, Pepsi and Sierra mist.

I know you loved the old Tropicana package, but the new package is gonna be better than 10 superbowls.

I didn't think it looked "generic", but more "1986". The rounded all-lowercase letters are really characteristic of just about every logo in the mid-80s. Pepsi has just done the same thing, and it gives me the exact same feeling. It's a trend that I can't make much sense of. I'm expecting Frito-Lay products to do something similar soon, if this hasn't prevented it from happening.

@jozhua:
Let's make sure that the quote is in a blatantly (on purpose) different voice!

[One of my favorite Simpsons moments ever!]

@TedSez:
What about the awesome power of applesauce?

@Ratty: Ah, but the Pepsi redesign was composed by the Demiurge of the Eight Sphere, whereas the Tropicana redesign was churned out by Safeway's LUCERNE-3000 fully computerized art-bot algorithm, which upon completion uttered in a tinny drone, "Re-design.Com-plete. Bore-dom.Fac-tor=2744.6."

(Sadly, the adorable little orange cap belies my tale.)

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I can see where the confusion lies, the new packaging looks almost exactly like every Safeway/Vons brand product from the 90's, complete with the sideways writing in the upper right-hand corner.

so your saying he's proactive?

I think it looks generic but only in comparison to the old package. It doesn't really make marketing sense to get rid of such a recognizable icon (the orange with the straw) because people use it to identify the product. They should have found a way to incorporate the icon into the new packaging, even if in a less prominent way. I LOVE the little orange cap, though.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: I like my calcium fortified no pulp orange juice. And I don't want to have to scour through 4 or 5 cartons before I find the right one.

@LandruBek: lose the white, keep the orange cap and we'll talk tropicana! i hope if they redesign it, they'll keep the little orange on top. he's cute and i haven't had a chance to enjoy it, this damn recession's got me buying kroger brand OJ when i can afford to buy any at all!

also, it's been so long since i bought tropicana that i can't even remember what the original carton looks like. i think if they really want to shake things up, they should go some other happy color, like turquoise, throw some orange on there and just dazzle me blind with a boderline-garish yet irresistibly tropical and tasty color scheme.

@Megladon: I don't know what it's in, but it's not MY face!

@idip: Oh my word, heaven forbid people actually READ what they're buying.

@BrandonOBrien: Although it could. I mean, the oranges lend themselves nicely to the shape. I could design a new carton that would not only catch eyes, but make them pop, too.

@se7a7n7: I liked the packaging. It seemed more minimalistic and less -- in your face buy me...

The dial "knob" type of evaluation is interesting. I've been to a couple of TV show evaluations in Las Vegas where you get paid money or earn local coupons for evaluating upcoming TV shows. So many hundreds of people take part in these evaluations that they can see patterns in people's reactions. It's interesting to get a sneak peek of a TV a show I hated or found interesting in the focus group.

Of course, focus group methods vary, depending on who is organizing them, who is participating, and what is to be learned from them. Only certain types of "focus groups" are presented with the dial "knob."

@Oranges w/ Cheese: the problem is they are reading.. you expect the no name brands to look bland so you read packaging that way expecting to come accross something exciting to read.

I liked the new redesign.

But, it's stupid to say "of course this failed, it was the product of a marketing company and survey groups!" The biggest innovation to orange juice drinking, IMO, was the addition of the twist-top to the standard cardboard carton OJ. And, y'know, there's a good chance that was the product of a marketing company and survey groups.

@Treefingers: I'm sure I'll be lynched for saying this, but I liked the new packaging a lot more than the old. The new packaging is much softer on the eyes and more in line with modern art style. The old packaging looks a bit amateurish to me and I'm not a big fan of Office97-esque wordart (OMG CURVED WRITING WOOOWWWWW!!!!!).

@Treefingers:
I liked the new design too...but I don't mind buying store brands on most products. (Not orange juice, though- I always buy Not from Concentrate Tropicana!)

@idip: I'm reminded of the New Coke debacle. Coke was losing out to Pepsi so they put out a drink that tested better than original Coke, and in some cases better than Pepsi. But because Coke had 'desacrated' their 'favorite' drink, people were 'outraged' (I read it as 'stupid'). When they brought back 'Classic' Coke, the exact same drink they had before releasing New Coke, the attention ultimately increased the sales of Coke.

And NO, it wasn't a conspiracy, just a marketing misstep that they were able to capitalize on. Read Snopes.com, for chrissakes.

@Plates: More importantly, the Head Marketing idiot's boss would smack him for suggesting an expensive reworking of their manufacturing process.

This kind of thing just doesn't happen that way. Look up the New Coke debacle from the 80s.

@sponica: Pattern recognition does win out over reading. Brain-wise, at least.

The new design is just too confusing to the eye. If your scanning a big shelf of products from across a grocery store aisle you have to look closely to see the name. Nothing stands out more than the other making it all just one big mess when you look at it.

Oh and the new cap looks vaguely like the end of a penis. Not really what people probably want associated with their orange juice pour spout.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: Its orange juice, what else do you need to know?

Do you want it with calcium, with Omega 3, no pulp, low pulp, high pulp, low pulp with Omega 3, high pulp with calcium.....? AAAAAAAARRRG!