I walked into our bathroom the other day and noticed a bottle on the counter with its label facing away from me. I knew instantly that it was a bottle of Listerine due to the shape of the container. Even if it had not been full of green (burning, delicious) liquid, I would have known what it was because the packaging is fairly iconic. This prompted me to think about other iconic packages that you can identify without text or contents.
An old glass Coca-Cola bottle, a Smuckers' jelly jar (thanks to the checkered cap), a CD jewel case, a Tiffany's box (again, because of the color). These are all things that simply by seeing the exterior, you know what the contents will likely be. It seems to go against the axiom of never judging a book by its cover.
It dawns on me, though, that all of these products have iconic packaging because they are associated with their contents. We know that something in a pretty aqua-marine blue box will be beautiful, sparkly, and of high quality because Tiffany's & Co. have established themselves as such. We know that Smucker's will be consistently good (maybe not great, but good). The insides make the outside recognizable; the contents create icons of the exterior.
I want to leave this post fairly succinct, but I also don't want to pass up an opportunity to leave some advice for my godchildren. J, PC, R, T, and V: I know you, I know where you come from, and I know the things that make you the amazing, unbelievable people you are. The attributes and traits that constitute you are of the highest quality. There's no need for any of you to worry about your "packaging"; be yourself. Be the best you that you can, and I promise that you will be known for the content of your character regardless of how it is packaged.
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