Yesterday we posted about how a package of Purina Naturals cat food bore striking resemblance to the Madonna And Child motif, a central icon of Christianity, represented in hundreds of paintings through thousands of years of human history.

Today, we went to the grocery store and happened across the pet food section. Most of the bags just had cats on them. Two more packages showed female owners cradling a cat in their arm. Both were made by Purina.

Packaging design choices are often made at random, often by studying bird bones, lofting balloons, examining the lumps on men’s heads, and by games of spin the bottle, so it’s just one of life’s little coincidences that one of the images burned into humanity’s collective consciousness shows up on a bag of cat food. Marketing isn’t about manipulation, it’s about fun, family, and togetherness.

More snaps, inside…

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And for editorial balance, some dog food.

— BEN POPKEN

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