Coca-Cola Bottle Object Analysis Essay Example

Coca-Cola Bottle: Object Analysis Paper Coca-Cola Bottle: Object Analysis The Coca-Cola logo is a very recognisable logo, when people think of the colours red and white they instantly think of Coca-Cola. It is famous world round. This month it will be celebrating its 125 year anniversary. Therefore, I thought Coca-Cola would be a good contemporary piece of text from packaging to examine. There were different size bottles, in different shapes made out of plastic and glass and also coke cans are available too. I picked the Coca-Cola plastic bottle and I will conduct an object analysis of the bottle, I will research the typeface used on the logo and the other typefaces used on the bottle. I will look at previous typefaces used by the brand and the history behind the typeface and the influence the typeface has. The Coca-Cola bottle is a clear bottle with a dark brown liquid in it, as you can see in fig. 1. When you shake it, it gets fizzy which means it is a fizzy drink. It has a red plastic band at the centre stuck on the bottle with writing on it, which gives information about the product. We will write a custom essay sample on Coca-Cola Bottle: Object Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Coca-Cola Bottle: Object Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Coca-Cola Bottle: Object Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The band can be easily removed. There is a red lid at the top of the bottle where it can be opened. It can be opened by using your hand to twist it and the lid comes off and can be closed by putting the lid back on. On the lid, it has the Coca-Cola logo and an arrow saying â€Å"open by hand†. On the red band at the front of the bottle is the Coca-Cola logo, it is in white script writing on a bright red background. At the back of the band it tells you the size which is 500ml, the ingredients, the nutrition information, the bar code and the logo again but this time is going vertical and is smaller. You can see this in fig. 5. and fig. 6. It size of the bottle is 24cm in height and the width is 6cm at the largest part. It is narrow at the top, it is 2cm. It has to be narrow so it can fit into a persons mouth to drink out of it. The bottle is round, it is a contour bottle and it can roll and it is out of strong plastic. The typeface used, known as Spencerian script, was developed in the mid 19th century and was the dominant form of formal handwriting in the United States during that period. (Logoblog. 2010) The Coca-Cola logo was first published in the late 19th century. The trademarked Coca Cola was a suggestion given by Coca Cola inventor John Pembertons bookkeeper Frank Robinson. Frank Robinson, the man who named the drink, provided the distinctive script (Pendergrast, 1993), Being a bookkeeper, Frank Robinson also had excellent penmanship. Cokes bookkeeper Frank Robinson was likely trained in business and penmanship at a Spencerian school.. (Power, 2010) It was he who first scripted Coca Cola into the flowing letters which has become the famous logo of today. Its called Spencerian script, after the man who invented it, Platt Spencer. Power, 2010) It became the world’s best known trademark and has appeared on all containers of Coca-Cola, beginning with the Hutchinson bottle around 1900. (Dean, 2010). The type at the back of the bottle is sans-serif and it is all in capital letters. It is all in white writing; it looks very similar to the Helvetica typeface. It is small but clear to read as the back has important information for the consumer . The Coca- Cola bottles has changed throughtout the years. Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time on March 12, 1894. The original bottles were Biedenharn bottles. There have been countless variations in Coca-Cola packaging- before and after the introduction of the classic contour bottle in 1916. (Dean, 2010), The now famous Coca-Cola bottle, called the contour bottle within the company, but known to some as the hobble skirt bottle, was created by bottle designer Earl R. Dean. In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company launched a competition among its bottle suppliers to create a new bottle for the beverage that would distinguish it from other beverage bottles. a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was. In 1970, Coca- Cola test marked the world’s first plastic beverage bottle for carbonated beverages. (Dean, 2010). Today, the contour Coca-Cola bottle is one of the most recognised packaging. The Coca-Cola logo, like the brand itself, is recognised world-wide. It is a classic design with white c urvy text on a bright red background. Something would be missing if an ad for Coca-Cola didn’t include the curvy Coca-cola typeface or the sharp, clean serifs. (Hutchinson, 1986) . The characteristic design with a white swirl and a curvy style gives the youth spirit. The white swirl beneath the fonts not only gives it a unique feature but also highlights its simplicity. The only two colours used in the Coca-Cola logo are red and white. When you think Coca-Cola the colour red accompanies your thought but when you think of the colour red, you don’t necessarily think of Coca-Cola. (Mokhonoana, 2009). The red and white coloured scheme in the Coca-Cola logo was kept simple and attracts the younger audience. The Coca-Cola logo is the same classic design today as it was since the late 19th century. Over the time it kept the same Spencerian typeface but changed the shades of red. Originally in the 1900s it was black writing on a white background. Coca-Cola was first served in 1886 and even then, the first official logo of Coca-Cola was not the script logo. It first appeared in the â€Å"Atlanta Journal Constitution† in 1886 as both a slab serif and chunky sans serif . It has been so successful other rival brands have tried copy them such as Pepsi. In respect to  competition,  colour is mainly used to differentiate a brand from its competitors rather than communicate. (Mokhonoana, 2009) Its competition Pepsi is always changing its logo. Between 1898- 1940 Pepsi was called Pepsi was called Pepsi-cola and it was logo looked very similar to coca-Cola. It was red and white and had the same script style. In 1962, Pepsi completely ignored the script and got a whole new identity. When Pepsi changed their packaging from red to blue in 1998 to distinguish their brand from their main competitor. A decade later and I doubt many people can remember that Pepsis packaging used to be predominantly red. (Wadsworth, 2009) The meaning behind the typography was too have a logo that was originally and distinctive and I think Coca-Cola has achieved in that. The Spencerian Script is a handwriting typeface so it is original and it is personal, the Coca-Cola logo is like a signature. Coca-Cola is for everyone at any age, people both young and old enjoy the fizzy drink. The Coca-Cola Company when advertising, has a primary target market of those who are 13-24, and a secondary market of 10-39.. Coca-Cola main objective is to supply everyone with their favourite drink and to satisfy the consumer needs and wants. In Conclusion, Coca-Cola is a simple, easily recognised logo and bottle. It is well established. Both Coca- Cola and Pepsi have their identity now. The Coca-Cola hasn’t had a major changes and I feel the typeface works very well for the company. I don’t feel the company needs to change its typeface, colours or bottle design any time soon. Reference List Coca-Cola Logo(2010), available: http://www. logoblog. org/coca_cola_logo. php/ [accessed 3rd May 2011}   Dean. N. L, (2010) The Man Behind the Bottle, Xlibris Corporation, United States of America. Hutchison, E (1986) Writing for Mass communication, Longman Mokhonoana, M. (2009) Can a brand really own a certain colour? 02/19, available: http://mokokoma. co. za/can-a-brand-really-own-a-certain-colour/ (accessed 4th May 2011) Pendergrast, M, (1993) For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Unauthorized History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes it, Basic Books, New York Power, M (2010) Spencerian Script, available http://meganpower. blogspot. com/2010/09/spencerian-script. html [accessed 2nd May 2011] Wadsworth, C. (2009)Brand Colour How Important is It? 07/01, available: http://ezinearticles. com/? Brand-ColourHow-Important-is-It? id=2553876 (accessed 18 March 2011)