A Love Letter to Pompeian Olive Oil and Its Retro-Pleasant Design

So far as the aesthetic pantry items motion [smiles in Fishwife] is worried, olive oil has been on the forefront. At this level, we all know who’s sitting on the cool child EVOO desk; there’s Brightland, whose bottles have that expensive-feeling, amphoric attraction, and Graza, with its playful, albeit, divisive squeeze bottle design — actually the Baggu of EVOO. There’s Fats Gold, which delivers on minimal however graphic tins, and Rubirosa, whose eye-catching bottle scratches the same itch to the continuing verify print development — and that’s to call only a handful.

Currently, nonetheless, I’ve been overwhelmed — if not straight-up exhausted — by all of this overemphasis on graphic design. I’ve tasted a lot of the choices above and admire their commitments to high quality elements and want to construct considerate model identities (Heraclea’s current truthful commerce standing involves thoughts). However I’ve additionally noticed a gradual, regular gravitation amongst my mates and meals media colleagues towards pantry gadgets that really feel much less aggressively hopecore-d out by what has, admittedly, develop into a predictable onslaught of wavy, squiggly, font-forward millennial packaging.

I’ve been craving for the lo-fi, unbothered olive oils of yore. I’ve been trying with contemporary eyes at my towering, plastic Pompeian olive oil jug that was a mainstay of my mom’s procuring cart within the Nineteen Nineties, with its so-uncool-it’s-cool Thomas Kinkade-esque landscapes on the packaging. A single look at its Below the Tuscan Solar period packaging sends me to a spot of consolation.

Pompeian is a strong olive oil, for the file — the Strong EVOO particularly has a ripe and barely nutty style that I like for each cooking meats and dipping crusty breads. And whereas it could not appear like it belongs on the cabinets of an overpriced boutique reward retailer in Williamsburg, it’s not essentially a super-budget choose; a 25.3-ounce bottle of Graza is about $16, whereas a 16-ounce bottle of Pompeian is about $9. Pompeian can also be sustainably grown, owned by a household of farmers, and makes use of cold-press expertise to create a smoother style. Briefly, it is probably not “aesthetic,” nevertheless it’s nonetheless great things. And I’m not throwing a gauntlet down in opposition to right this moment’s cool child olive oils, however not all the pieces in your kitchen needs to be Instagram-optimized.

However that’s to not say I don’t love the look of it — in actual fact, I’m right here to elucidate that I very a lot do. Pompeian’s merchandise actually seize the sort of earnest attraction I yearn for as of late. Behold, dare I ask, the romantic, pale pink label of its Rosé balsamic vinegar, made me nostalgic for early 2000s episodes of The Bachelor and Céline Dion CDs, whereas the Grimace-purple grapeseed oil bottle label represents a captivating one-and-done strategy (grapes = purple) to advertising and marketing, particularly together with its Frasier-worthy font. It does appear like the model’s Made Simple line, together with its excessive smoke level olive oil — merely known as “Fry” — acquired an try at millennial-ification, however the font feels too unbothered and Comedian Sans-adjacent to attain that standing. I take a look at that bottle and I believe, Are you mates with Clippy from Microsoft Workplace? And I hope so, as a result of I actually choose these aesthetics to these of all the brand new manufacturers with visible advertising and marketing on the forefront.

It seems like we’re turning a nook towards a lo-fi aesthetic pivot, with corporations corresponding to David protein bars presenting merchandise in plain, gold wrapping with a fundamental serif font. As mentioned in a current installment of Jonah Weiner’s model Substack Blackbird Spyplane titled “Millennial Rebrand Syndrome,” there’s newfound attraction to merchandise which are, by right this moment’s requirements, under-designed — Yousef Gourmand Meals is cited as a very potent instance, with Weiner writing, “The label appears prefer it was printed on an inkjet, with some clip-art palm bushes tossed in to maintain issues vigorous. There is no such thing as a cartoon of a chicken juggling garbanzo beans. There is no such thing as a copy involving the phrase “Thoughts. Blown.” That’s how you understand the hummus is yanking.”

In an Eater article on the fashionable olive oil motion, Jaya Saxena touched on not solely optimism as a promoting level with cool child EVOO, however the capacity to sign standing and escapism, writing, “coolness turns into a gateway for high quality, and a method to sign each advantage and indulgence. Or only a method to get shoppers to purchase olive oil in any respect.” However can the typical particular person, or the overwhelming majority of individuals, actually style the distinction between my extraordinarily 90s-looking olive oil and one which value twice as a lot however got here in a millennial-sage-green squeeze bottle? In all probability not.

As demonstrated by the current “Millennial Rebrand Syndrome” discourse, there appears to be an exhaustion with the overemphasis on presentation and a craving for authenticity, no matter that’s at this level. As model technique marketing consultant Eugene Healey defined on TikTok about this vibe shift, “Within the millennial period, authenticity meant a kind of earnestness and optimism that attempted to attraction to some underlying, frequent humanity. These traits at the moment are being recontextualized as a kind of cloying self-importance.”

The factor is, I don’t need to put my detergent in a glass jar from Residence Items, for a similar motive that I don’t must really feel like a woman boss once I purchase my EVOO. It feels truthful to say that I need to purchase good merchandise from manufacturers making good decisions. However give me the unstudied, and unbothered aesthetics of Ken’s Ranch and Carr’s water crackers in lieu of cookie dough that comes with a attractive crucial, or navel-gazing EVOOs. Let me prepare dinner my hen piccata with Pompeian olive oil, and nonetheless have permission to love myself.