Dead Rabbits and Carrots Beer

Promotional packaging for San Francisco’s Carrots Boutique by advertising firm, Pereira & O’Dell. (Package design variously credited to Chris M. Romero and also Dan Van Der Deen.)

The
objective was to create a buzz around this high-end fashion boutique
(CARROTS) and specifically around their men’s line, driving new male
customers into the store. We created a limited edition, designer beer
made from carrots. We brewed the beer, handcrafted the bottle wraps,
and applied the labels. The 22(oz.) burlap-wrapped bottles were
hand-delivered as gifts to specifically targeted men and the 12(oz.)
beers were served at CARROTS-sponsored events and in-store to enhance
men’s shopping experiences.  Among the hundreds that received the
bottle as a gift and the ones that tried it in the store, many people
actually placed orders for beer to take home, turning a unique
promotional item into a sexy and successful new product. Not to mention
creating a buzz around the store.

–Pereira & O’Dell

The label and package design caters to the (presumably male)
cartoon sensibility, wherein deceased creatures have X’s for eyes.
Hence: a dead rabbit icon whose X-shaped eyes are also echoed in the
orange stitching of the burlap “bottle wrap”. The burlap is another
macabre touch, wrapping the bottle in a sort of burial shroud. The effect is dark and portentous—albeit in a cute, Tim Burton-ish sort of way.

This is a beer made from carrots for a store named “Carrots”— so that explains the rabbit. But why dead? “Dead rabbit” could be taken as a reference to girls getting pregnant—(as in “the rabbit died”)—but that seems unlikely to be the message here...

There was also a “Dead Rabbits” gang in NYC in the 1850s whose story was fictionalized in Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. (Again: not likely the intentional reference for us here.)

Is
the idea just that Carrots Beer packs such a punch that our rabbit is
merely knocked out and not dead at all? That might be closer to it...
Plus, multiple Xs have implications with regard to alcoholic beverage quality and —(in the public’s cartoon imagination, at least)— with regard to alcohol potency. Think: XXX.

box vox

Comments

[Cheap beer koozies]

i love carrot beer! So great taste!

[Can huggers]

I love beer a lot . So wodnerful to drink beer after a hard working day ! I love beer so much

[Can coolers]

I am so fond of drinking beer with friends. I feel so relax to drink beer after a working day !