The Shape of Food: The Cool Whip Container

One of the on-going themes in my object lust is objects that convey their purpose through form. For me, the ultimate examples of this principle are food containers that somehow embody the food they contain. This ranges from the total obvious and cheesy (as this example is), to the absolutely subtle but appropriate (yet to come).

This Cool Whip container came to me through my friend Rachel who saw it and instantly realized that the Cool Whip tube and I were meant to be. Yes, it's stupidly wasteful to put Cool Whip in a Reddi Whip tube (and also a little bit weird, frankly), but the brilliance really lies in the top. Besides being so much less annoying than the Reddi Whip top, which in my experience tends to snap off at the weak point right when you need to open it, it distinguishes the Cool Whip from any other whipped toping in a steel can that you may find in the dairy section with that classic Cool Whip shape. Reddi Whip has squiggles, but Cool whip is smooth and luscious, a little bit like this plastic lid.

I didn't save the whole can, but I did save the lid. It reminds me a little of the Cupcakes dolls I had when I was a little kid. For me, there is a sense of joy and play in the shape of this lid (although I guess it would look a little like the gchat symbol ~@~ if it were covered in mud, but that's not really relevant). When I saw the can in our fridge for the week after this potluck, I giggled a little bit inside. I was also struck by how it reminded me of all the things that Cool Whip is—smooth, refreshing, creamy; without pointing out the things that I don't like about Cool Whip—the artificial flavor, the overly sweet aftertaste.

Even though these design decisions are all about marketing, there is a level of fun that is achieved from making the normal way to convince someone to purchase your product or eat your whipped topping a direct relationship.