I came across this on a Facebook wall belonging to a company called Motto Agency. I was surprised at how many brands I could identify from a single stylized letter. But then, that’s what companies like Motto are all about.
"American Alphabet" by Heidi Cody
I don’t think I’ll get them all, thank God. But a few of them will continue to bother me.
Don’t “Read More” until you’ve given yourself a chance to guess at them.
Here a few that I know: Bubblicious (or is it Bubble Yum?), Campbell’s soup, Dawn dish soap (not sure), Eggo frozen waffles, Klondike ice cream bar (maybe—from the middle of the word?), Lysol disinfectant products, M&M’s, Orios (?), Pez, Q-tips (?), Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, V-8 cocktail juice, Twix (?—from the middle of the word again?), York peppermint patties.
The A and S are driving me crazy. (Alpha-Bits? and that fruit toffee stuff that comes in little squares? what the hell’s the name …) The K looks awful familiar as well.
Okay, lemme outta here!
9 Comments
Starburst?
Just writing this because wordpress objected to my one word response.
Thank you!
Yeah, the spam catcher can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but it’s pretty unobtrusive (and very effective) most of the time.
kind of sad that the ones i got were all candy related…
these are awesome. May I use them?
It probably depends on how you intend to use it, but if you’re in doubt, you should ask the folks who compiled it! I didn’t, but I think it’s fair use. At the very least, it’s free advertising for them.
We should probably also keep in mind there are 26 sources for that graphic, in addition to the clever mind that compiled it. (Can you see why I have a Creative Commons license on this site?)
I thought I had provided links, but I guess I forgot.
They’re there now. The Facebook link takes you right to the page with the alphabet and responses. It looks like someone got all of them right (unless the Motto folks were pulling her leg).
The answers (courtesy of several people at Motto’s Facebook page):
A – All (laundry detergent)
B – Bubblicious
C – Campbell’s
D – Dawn (dish soap)
E – Eggo
F – Fritos
G – Gatorade
H – Hebrew National Hot Dogs
I – Ice – like ice from a 7-11 ice freezer thingy [?!—WWW]
J – Jell-O
K – Kool-Aid
L – Lysol [N.B. a cleaning product—WWW]
M – M&Ms (Peanut) [nice attention to detail!—WWW]
N – Nilla Wafers
O – Oreo
P – Pez
Q – Q-Tips
R – Reese’s
S – Starburst
T – Tide [another laundry detergent!—WWW]
U – Uncle Ben’s Rice
V – V8 [since updated, according to one respondent---WWW]
W – Wisk [yet another laundry product!—WWW]
X – Xtra [and another!—WWW]
Y – York
Z – Zest [ending on a note of personal hygiene!—WWW]
I suspect the Motto Agency offices are sweet-smelling and full of candy wrappers.
What a coinkidink: the Sept/Oct University of Chicago Magazine has an article that uses this alphabet as an illustration. Turns out the Motto folks didn’t concoct it. An artist named Heidi Cody did, and the work is called American Alphabet (2000). The credit line has been duly changed.
Hi, there,
I’m the co-founder of Motto and I just found your post about our Facebook page and our company. Thank you for posting this and I’m glad you found something on our page that you enjoyed. We are currently doing a series, the first Tuesday of every month, called Behind the Brand™ where we take people behind the brand of some of the most inspiring companies doing business today. It’s mostly smaller, innovative brands, like charity:water, Overlooked, Vitamin Angels, Kopali Organics and Seventh Generation. If you’re interested, have a look http://www.facebook.com/mottoagency and thanks again for the post! I’ll link back to you on one of our upcoming blog posts.
Thanks for the heads-up, Sunny!