PepsiCo have done it again!  First, they re-designed the Pepsi bottle to look like a wrinkled penis and now they have recalled the redesigned Tropicana orange juice carton because the cap — in the shape of half an orange — actually looks like a human nipple.


We confess the released Tropicana nipple isn’t as obnoxious as the original spec art, but sometimes a plastic screw cap is intentionally more than just a plastic screw cap — hole and all… 

It seems the Tropicana re-design was supposed to suggest not just an orange, but also the juice inside the orange, and so — the experience of “squeezing” the screw cap was to imitate the squeezing of fresh orange juice. 

Or, perhaps, that squeezing also invoked a little naughty nipple play as well.

PepsiCo is quickly returning the original, beloved, Tropicana cartons to the shelves of your local grocer. 

Notice the humdrum orange screw cap is back, along with the semiotically delightful “straw in an orange” meme that so many of us grew up loving.

Not every logo needs to be redesigned.

Not every soda bottle needs to suggest male anatomy.

Not every screw cap needs to invoke the pulp of the human breast.

PepsiCo, please retire the Freudians from ruining the innocent goodness with the naughty bits that bring you an undeserved sexual embarrassment.

5 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    Gordon Davidescu says:

    Good thing Elizabeth and I saved one. Keep the nipple love. 🙂 Of course I never thought of nipples when looking at it. Just oranges.

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Gordon! You didn’t KNOW you were thinking of a nipple every time you touched that beautiful screw cap EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE! SMILE!
    PepsiCo need to get their head out of the gutter.

  3. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    Gordon Davidescu says:

    What really surprised me was news of how people stopped drinking Tropicana because of the redesign. I like the juice because of the taste. Mind you, if there was something graphic on the carton (a monkey being intimate with a coconut, for example) I would probably skip OJ that week. 🙂

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    I thought people stopped drinking Tropicana, Gordon, because they no longer recognized the brand. People were looking for the straw in the orange and not a glass of juice. They wanted to buy the image, not the text.

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