Tomato Soup… Cans

Design by Paula DiGioia
Warhol drank a lot of soup. He claimed to have had Campbell’s soup for lunch every day for over 20 years.

To start, I’d like to follow up on the Beach 91st Street Community Garden’s Thanksgiving Food Drive and thank everyone who has donated so far! We are so impressed and overwhelmed by the response. The garden is accepting non-perishable donations up until Sunday, Nov. 24th. That leaves us enough time to purchase food with the monetary gifts, organize the goods, and bring everything to St. Rose of Lima’s Food Pantry in time for Thanksgiving. Drop off at 125 Beach 91st St., Rockaway Beach (across from the garden.)

Now, let’s talk tomato (cans). As a graphic artist, continually enveloped in marketing (for better or worse), I had the creative pleasure (better) of designing the poster for the garden’s food drive campaign. When most people think of food drives, canned beans might come to mind, right? But for me, it was tomato soup cans. Inspired by Andy Warhol, a master marketer,  I designed a poster inspired by Warhol’s iconic style. And through the process, I picked up some fascinating bits about Warhol and Campbell’s Soup.

Warhol was a commercial illustrator early in his career, and he understood the power and beauty of repetition. As little kids, for learning, we were given books with uniform letters, songs on repeat and flash cards. Why? Because repetition works for recollection. So, if you want someone to remember what you’re saying, or promoting, make sure they see that message everywhere. For the food drive, we’ve hung 50 large format Pop Art posters around town, in a Warhol-style, with a grassroots approach. To support that, we’re sharing the same visual communication on social media. It’s working.

“You’ve got to find something that’s recognizable to almost everybody, something you see every day that everybody would recognize. Something like a can of Campbell’s Soup.” – Muriel Latow

Warhol’s initial idea was to create a series inspired by comic books, but with frenemy, Roy Lichtenstein already dominating that, he needed a new direction. That’s when Warhol’s friend, Muriel Latow, suggested the iconic Campbell’s soup can. Warhol realized that it had to be something simple yet impactful—something that would stand out from what others were doing, and the soup can become the perfect symbol of mundane life.

Let’s open the can – Tomato was the first flavor created by Campbell Soup in its 130+ years, and it was their best-selling product. And give thanks to Warhol, as the iconic design became the “poster child” of Pop Art by the late 60s. While designing the food drive signs, I first noticed the fleur-de-lis on the label. Why is that there? The fleur-de-lis, which translates to ‘flower of the iris,’ has historically been a symbol of French royalty. Joseph A. Campbell, New Jersey-born, wanted to express that although this is an American product, they used the highest quality French cooking methods.

Other notables: strangely, the red and white colors of the soup can were inspired by the Cornell football team’s uniforms, not tomatoes. In Warhol’s paintings, I feel there’s no other way than Warhol’s colorway. It’s perfect and makes me feel that I can never create combinations as striking as his. The Campbell’s logo type is based on Joseph Campbell’s handwriting. The medallion represents a bronze medal earned at an international soup expo – the accolade stuck and has been a graphic on the famous can design ever since.

I need to add, that I’m a romantic, and I’m wholeheartedly against the 2021 redesign of the label – even though it brought the company much-needed revenue increases.

If you would like to visit St. Rose’s Food Pantry for your Thanksgiving needs, it’s open, Tues/Fri: 9am – 5pm. Wed/Thurs: 9am – 1pm.  Located at 130 Beach 84th Street Rockaway Beach, NY 11693, (718) 634-7394.