‘pepsi / coke bottle’ maker unknown

box vox recently ran a couple of articles that explored the historical divide in the cola market, one of the examples they used to illustrate them was this hybrid pepsi / coke bottle.

little is known about the design – what it was for or who made it but the current owner, andy beach suspects that the design which he bought on ebay is a salesman’s sample.

pepsi / coke bottle ‘and/or’ by jonathan horowitz

whatever the reasons for its existence – it provides a nice accompaniment to the work of jonathan horowitz which box vox also discuss.

pepsi / coke bottle ‘coke and/or pepsi machine’ by jonathan horowitz

horowitz’s work and the pepsi / coke bottle both highlight the ‘illusions of choice’ that brands represent and what such choices signify about the people who make them. as a metaphor, ‘packaging’ is frequently invoked in political discourse. usually in a negative way e.g., ‘same product, new packaging.’ still it’s surprising how prevalent a metaphor coke and pepsi have become, for america’s two-party political system.  read more

design-aerobics ‘food’ and ‘revisiting history’ courses (june 8th – august 8th) are now open for enrolment!

pepsi / coke bottle

examining the origins of today’s most common / popular design objects and asking how we can improve them or how they have been re-interpreted. more

pepsi / coke bottle

from its packaging to the surroundings in which it’s consumed and everything in between.  this course gives you a good taste of design in the food sector. more

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