Paper Towels

In class, we briefly discussed the packaging of three well-known brands of paper towels. I wanted to further that discussion by offering my analysis here.

The brand that stands out to me most is Scott. Bounty and Brawny have several similarities, which I will get to later, but Scott is the most unique of the three. Its lettering is white rather than dark--and the font is "fancier" than the font for Bounty and Brawny. As was brought up in class, it looks more feminine than the others--which genderizes not only the paper towels themselves, but the act of cleaning. Paper towels are most commonly used for cleaning, especially in kitchens--and it is some people's school of thought that the kitchen is part of the women's "sphere." With all this said, if I were buying paper towels, I would not go for this brand. It may have a better aesthetic, and it may look prettier or even "frilly"--but paper towels should look strong and durable, and those are two adjectives I would not use to describe Scott brand paper towels given this packaging.

This brings us to Bounty and Brawny, both of which have strong, dark font that does paint the paper towels to look durable. Similar to Scott, Brawny uses a red background. What I know about the color red is that it is used to bring attention to something--therefore, both Scott and Brawny stand out because of the red. However, I am put off by what appears to me a lumberjack. It seems that this brand is marketed toward men, and because I am not a man, I might not spring for this brand given this packaging. When I see this packaging, the first thing I think of, as far as audience goes, is that this brand is aimed toward single men, perhaps divorcees, who want to feel as if they, too, can clean effectively even if they are not women. A stereotype that stems from the stereotype of women having to do the household cleaning is the stereotype that men are not efficient or effective at cleaning. The Brawny packaging reinforces to its target audience that men, too, can clean. If I were a single man, maybe this packaging would appeal to me.

The most effective packaging though, in my opinion, is Bounty. Though the font makes it seem strong and durable, the packaging is fairly gender neutral. The font may not be ultra feminine, but the remainder of the packaging is void of other gender markers. Some may view green and blue as a masculine color--but it is complemented with orange, which is a pretty gender neutral color in my opinion. As a consumer, I am not put off by any images (like Brawny) and I am not untrusting of the brand due to the font or color choice (like Scott). The font size is the largest on this brand and covers the most space--it really pops out at the consumer. Though isolating an audience is a good marketing ploy because it isolates about 50% of people, I would be weary of any product that has a "manly man" or a "girly girl" trying to "sell" the product to me--but to others, this may be successful. As always, it depends on how the consumer decodes the color scheme, text, and images.