You’ve peeled so many stickers off of bananas at this point prior to cutting them up for an ice cream sundae or chomping down on them Donkey Kong style that you’ve probably paid no attention whatsoever to the actual design of the stickers themselves.
However, TikTok user and design enthusiast Neil (@tallneil) pays attention to the stickers, and he believes that one banana supplier in particular, Chiquita, seems to want all of its consumers to notice them, too.
Why else would they launch a banana sticker collecting campaign, complete with branded sheets folks can print out in order to affix their banana stickers to? And if you’ve taken a gander at these stickers, you may have noticed that the company has put in a considerable amount of work to provide variegated designs, along with limited sticker releases folks can collect as well.
This was news to Neil, and, being a design buff, he has some ideas on why he thinks the campaign isn’t all that successful (he says there’s ultimately no incentive for it). He also explained why he thought a recent breast cancer awareness limited edition sticker is an absolute win.
“I just went down a big rabbit hole and I just learned that Chiquita banana seems to think that people are collecting banana stickers. Like peeling them off and putting them in a book to collect them. As much as I like this one in particular,” he said, pointing to a screenshot of a breast cancer awareness banana sticker. “I don’t think anybody’s doing that. They have a whole series, multiple series of collector’s edition banana stickers,” he said.
At this point in the video, Neil rattled off a few examples of these specialized stickers, which feature animated caricatures of anthropomorphized bananas designed to look like a wizard cast a spell on a human being to turn them into a potassium-packed natural treat.
“This is banana Frida Kahlo. And then on their website they sell these printable sticker sheets, they want you to print, peel off your banana stickers, and keep them just as a keepsake. I like parts of this, but what I think they got wrong is that there’s no incentive for the consumer. As a brand exercise, art stickers actually makes a lot of sense, but there’s no prize for collecting them all and in of itself it’s not cool enough to just do as a hobby which is why nobody’s doing it,” Neil said.
Neil then cut back to the screengrab of the breast cancer awareness banana sticker. “This one is actually really special and I think they nailed the execution on this. This is their commemorative sticker for breast cancer awareness month so you got the pink ribbon and they have a special version of their logo,” he said.
@tallneil #greenscreen collector’s edition banana stickers #branding #marketing #breastcancerawareness ♬ original sound – tallneil
He shows the two separate Chiquita banana logos. The original shows the woman we’re all acquainted with holding a bowl of fruit on top of her head. The breast cancer awareness version sports the same character and design aesthetic, however, she has her right hand over her chest.
“This is their standard mark meaning their usual logo on the top and this is the special breast cancer awareness logo. What it is is their mascot performing a self-exam,” Neil explained. “Now when brands do this when brands change their logo it is their way of signaling this is a very big deal. When you create branded assets for a campaign, the logo is typically the last thing you touch, you don’t touch the logo, and this is a really special campaign. It’s subtle enough that most people won’t even notice that it’s different, which is a good thing. You preserve the brand integrity that way. It’s meaningful, it’s well drawn, it’s well executed, they nailed it. On the sticker book, though, I have notes.”
While Neil thinks that there isn’t anyone out there collecting Chiquita banana stickers, according to numerous folks in the comments section of his video, it would appear that there are folks who enjoy this activity. The company has even chronicled the exploits of a “master banana sticker collector” on its website.
“I have a Chiquita banana sticker collection…..,” one person wrote.
Another penned, “You will be shocked there’s a Chiquita Banana Sticker Collection Club.”
A miner also said they and their coworkers decorate their hardhats with stickers. “I work in a mine, a lot of guys decorate their hardhats with stickers. Monster or redbull, skulls and stuff. My hardhat is covered in chiquita banana,” the user wrote.
Someone else thought that Neil’s judgment of collecting the banana stickers was hurtful. “‘it’s not cool enough to just do as a hobby’ broke my heart…. i don’t need a prize for my collection i just think it’s neat,” the user wrote.
Another user agreed: “There’s no prize for collecting anything. It’s about people’s interests. People find stamp collecting boring, others find it cool. Same goes for this.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Chiquita and Neil via email for further comment.
