The Allure of Energy Drink Packaging
We all know that energy drinks are bad for us, they give us caffeine and they taste great but they really aren't that great for you. So aside from todays culture of enjoying the unhealthy, what really makes us go back to them? Packaging.
At the end of the day it is the packaging that attracts the consumer to the product on the shelf and energy drink packaging has grown to be very distinctive.
Tall and thin cans mark the beginning of the energy drinks rise to popularity and despite getting wider in some cases and shorter in others, the overall shape of the energy drink can remains the same.
Energy drink packaging does what few other products packaging can do - it makes you feel cool. By being such a controversial product, it makes you feel like you're living on the edge. Energy drink companies play on this heavily, some brands using heavy dark colours and imagery such as claw marks or tattoo-esk typeface, others use overly bright and exuberant colours and designs - both with the intention of seeming alternative.
Source: flickr
These Mountain Dew bottles are rare for the energy drink packaging trends. A limited edition based on an American national holiday is practically unheard of in this dark corner of the packaging world but they have done it well. Mountain Dew is a colourful and exciting brand of energy drink - playing on the unnatural nature of it's toxic yellow packaging to differentiate its self from other brands. These limited edition 4th of july bottles show ordinary colours combined with whacky designs and an unusual bottle shape to create something very special. The fact that this packaging is so 'normal' and celebratory of an ordinary holiday makes it appeal to people who don't drink energy drinks but the fact that it is so different from the energy drink packaging before it, appeals to the types who like their alternative energy drinks - an overall winning design!