I was reading some articles on the net and came across a very interesting article...have you ever come across the sweet label Maoam? If yes you should read the following article:-
The Haribo brand did not go down well to a shopper who noticed that the wrapper illustrations appeared to depict pieces of fruit engaged in sexual activity. The complaint was made public by various media including The SUN and The Daily Mail. Mr. Simon Simpkins from West Yorks said he had a "heated exchange" with the shop manager when he saw Maoam's wrappers.
All Maoam wrappers feature a lime character close to, or holding, different items of fruit depending on the sweet's flavour. Mr. Simpkins went for the lemon flavour, however when he looked at the wrapper, the image was quite interesting...but at the same time shocking. He said: "The lemon and lime are locked in what appears to be a carnal encounter. The lime, who I assume to be the gentleman in this coupling, has a particularly lurid expression on his face."
Honestly by analysing the wrappers and try to look at them in different light you might say that Mr. Simpkins is actually right. Have a look at the cherry flavour packaging which is even funnier. It features Mr Lime "tasting" a cherry while another one watches.
According to Haribo the wrapper design was introduced in 2002 and was an attempt to make the wrappers "more lively". It denied there were any sexual connotations intended in the illustrations. Haribo did also confirm that they received the complaint from Mr. Simpkins and published the email.
After having read all this what do you think? Do you think that brands use these imagery as subliminal cues or do people try to interpret images in their way?
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