Madonna

How could I have missed Madonna's latest album?

This one is about the "juxtaposition of tough and sweetness" (so say her reps) and it looks as though she nailed it. (just look at her!!)


I haven't heard any of the songs on the album so I don't know if she carries the candy theme through the actual music content, but I do find it interesting that candy is becoming such a pop marketing tool.


Madonna is BIG! Will McDonalds, Coke and Walmart soon be following suit with their candy-marketing campaigns?

Yucca (candy) Lamp

Check out the Yucca Lamp!

I immediately liked this product because it has been created with a goal to reducing consumable waste & ecological accountability AND looks great!

The shell of this lamp is made with hard candy and I'd love to get my hands on one to see how it performs in a residential environment. Oddly, I know a lot about working with hard candy and have seen enough to know that it doesn't always behave as anything other than what it is (i.e. a sticky mass of sugar).

Hard Candy always looks great (ohh, the beautiful translucence of hard candy) but the issue of stickiness is hard to get around. Even when coated with a resin, streams of hard-candy-stickiness have a way of trickling from the seams. Messy and hard to maintain, I can just imagine dust bunnies leaping onto the Yucca Lamp and holding on for-e-v-e-r where-ever they land.

And on and on my list could go. But I'm thinking the creators of this lamp MUST have found a solution to all the problems I could mention. And besides, who wants to dis the eco-friendly products in the world. This one looks great and is 100% biodegradable!

http://theideagroup.ca/consumablewaste/?p=123

Junior Mints

I would put this painting in my kitchen and I would feel cool-minty and light as air every time I looked at it.

I'm thinking I wouldn't feel so cool-minty and light if I saw an actual Junior Mints box on the ground outside my house, so why the difference?

This candy & box are just so darn pleasing. Could it be because they are larger than life (out of the ordinary and interesting) or am I being duped by their high subject of a portrait stature?

It is obvious this candy box is no piece of garbage (as one would assume the box on my front doorstep would be) and I imagine the artist spent a load of time examining and getting to know it. That attention shows and -dare I say- I feel it (what is it?) in the clean lines and detail of the painting .

Definitely feeling something and loving the Junior Mints!

see more at http://jeanvictory.blogspot.com/2008/03/another-candy-painting.html

Chew Them Up.

More gum! Though this stuff (unlike Maurizio Savini's art, November 29/08 blog) looks very chewed up and spit out.

'Chew Them Up. Spit Them Out' is in fact the byline for the ad shown here and I can't believe someone on Paris Hilton's team didn't point out that a campaign picturing her with this caption may not be so hot.

The ad for www.dose.ca is from a celebrity gossip mag I picked up at the movie theatre. I can't deny it is eye-catching and quite an accomplishment if it is in fact made of gum (not a computer generated image). But was team Hilton really so distracted they did not notice it kind of looks like Paris's brain is falling out? And again, how is it acceptable to be shown in an ad with a caption that says 'Chew Them Up. Spit Them Out'. Even if it is a [pretty cool] portrait in chewing gum.


I'm guessing this is a case of no publicity is bad publicity.

Candy Trike.

Candy and a tricycle. Hmmm...No question this one is for the kids though it does seem to be driving the point a bit hard.

Let's see, tricycle=kids / candy=kids / candy tricycle = kidskidskids!

I'm wondering if I should just let it be and enjoy the tricycle.

(Enjoying the tricycle! Have a sweet weekend.)

Pink Pucci

Pink and partly shiny, this Emilio Pucci coat dress is being described as "candy colored...defin[ing] elegance...and pure Jackie O" on the web.

Now this is my kind of outfit! It looks warm enough and stylish enough, though I have to admit I have never worn that much colour all at once. In fact, I haven't worn that much colour collectively since the day I was born.

I keep wondering what the WhatNotToWear lady would say. And I can't stop wondering because as much as I love this dress I cannot imagine a real person in a real street or partyscape wearing it.

Strangely, I don't think I would have a problem or be surprised to see someone else wearing the dress inside-out, showing the crazy Pucci print lining on the outside.

net-a-porter.com $1,455.00

Pastel world

Remember Candyland?

The lollipop woods? the ice cream floats? hmmmm. a fairyland of candy and neverending possibility. My memory about these things hasn't faded and I remember the romance.

It wasn't just the candy that made this game so great. Candyland was all about the calming pastel world of imagination, where adventure and surprise were just around the corner . It was about the exhileration of making it to the coast (cool winds blowing) and through the (presumably not-so-sweet-smelling) molasses swamp.

The photo shown here is as close as I could find to the version I played in the 70's and 80's and I feel a sad and disappointing void when I see 'new Candyland' at the toy store.

That beautiful, imaginary, pastel world has been coloured-up with primary blue, yellow & red (better for a child's educational development) and Dora-ed & Winnie-the-Pooh-ed to gather the homogenized masses.

I'm feeling a little crotchety for yesteryear. But really. When I was a kid....

Candy Cane Chair

As if sitting in a cafe with the right decor isn't enough, this great chair is called the Candy Cane Bentwood.

It took a second, and I do see the reason for the name; candy cane shapes, yes indeed. But what I see more in this Bentwood style, is the coffee shops along the Champs D'Elysees...


Un cafe, s'il vous plait ! (pas de bonbons).

Gomma da Masticare

I'm chewing Hubba Bubba in honour of Maurizio Savini's chewing gum sculptures and boy oh boy, do I have some questions.

Such as, is that masticated gum? how much? does Mr. Savini chew it all himself or does he have a special masticating machine? is flavour an important element of the design? are the sculptures sticky?

A successful artist and student of architecture, I was intrigued by a picture of Signore Savini at http://www.artmbassy.com/bin/maurizio_savini.html and am ashamed to admit that I have a hard time reconciling this carefully crafted public image (see photo) with the creation of bubble gum art.

Is it necessary to see a relationship between an artist's public image, their medium and the art they create?

Candy Baubles!

There may be a financial crisis and the world may be falling apart, but you've always got your memories.

Remember digging through your mom's jewelry box? or those big baubles you wore in your ten-year-old pig-tails? or how about that candy dish full of jelly beans? Well, Candyware is bringing it all back to you with Candy Baubles, the latest in candy inspired jewelry.

We love candy, just like you. But we could also go for a little bling so we've added that too. Each Candy Bauble necklace is made with one Candyware Jelly Bean and glass & Spanish acrylic beads in the most fantastic colours; pink, orange & light or dark jelly bean green.

Poo poo the financial doom and gloom for one sweet moment. At $20 apiece, you can afford to buy a Bauble for your sister, your best friend and your secret pal.

Check out Candyware's lineup at www.candyisbeautiful.com/candy.html

Sell it to me!

There is an assembly line of candy phones from LG at Verizon Wireless and I am sold!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN6BtJWahUg

LG and Verizon have thrown a wide net with this advertising, appealing to candy lovers, chocolate lovers and technofreaks with slick visuals and a suggestive (Candyman) Christina Aguilera soundtrack.

I would think this should be a wide enough net to catch the female demographic . Or at least some of them. Or, maybe none.

I saw a blogsite comment from a grade 6 student who really, really, reeeeally wants one of these phones.

Geesh!! How much s-e-x appeal does a candy product need to get it off the playground?

Are you kidding me?

By the looks of the ad photo, you might think R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. was getting into the candy biz for kids.

But you'd be wrong.

R.J.'s new Camel branded dissolvable products are packaged an awful lot like candy and include Camel Sticks, Camel Orbs, and Camel Strips, but they're not just tasty little treats. Oh no! They pack a nicotine whallop of 0.6 to 3.1 mg per dissolvable (vs. 1 milligram of nicotine in a regular cigarette) and are being marketed as the smokeless solution for those who don't like chew.

Hmmmm. now I don't have a problem with tasty, candy-like products for adults because candy's not just for kids. But holy smokes, look at that photo!


Candy innocence lost.

Cars, man.

Yesterday I discovered Automotive Candy Paints and I can't stop thinking about them. These are the paints that Hot Rodders and car aficionados use to give their ride that super shiny, excellent colour you never see in the show room.

A candy job (that's car lingo for candy paint job) uses an additional mid coat step in the painting process to give it an extra deep colour kick and, from the looks of the paint samples photo , it does the job.

Candy, candy, candy. Even the car guys can't resist the candy.

Pink!

Here comes Christmas! and this may be the year for the pink tree! My initial research is showing that after years of seeking my own identity I have now distinguished myself from the masses. I'm now part of the 'Quirky' (buying-a-pink-Christmas-tree) set.

Joy to the World! look at that tree.

www.treetopia.com

Big Chocolates

Sometimes you see something in your imagination and then accidentally trip over it in the middle of your day. I love these pieces by artist Katie Jacobs. (Definately not for eating).

'Chocolate' Slip cast ceramic $110 each.

http://www.piecesofeight.com.au/artists/jacobs.html

Don't Eat the Candy

It has just occurred to me that we have been marketing to the world in the worst way. "Don't eat the candy!" - WHO SAYS THAT?

It is the one of the most joy-sucking, sad things to hear. "Don't eat the candy". My mother has been saying it since I was two; my father, the nutritionist, the Surgeon General, they've all had their say. So I have to wonder, why would we say this to our customers?

First and foremost, we say "Don't Eat It. Just Wear It.", because our products are not made for eating. They are 100% inedible; made from acrylic resin and not intended for consumption.

Second, we say "don't eat it" because we think it is beautiful. Not just Candyware candy. ALL candy. Since candy salesmen first began selling, marketing people have been colouring, shining, shaping and scaling candies to appeal exactly to my size. Each candy is its own tiny billboard that packs a punch like a bowl full of jewels.

Where else are people loving candy but NOT EATING IT? I think it's time for me to start looking out into the rest of the world.


CANDY IS BEAUTIFUL.
Don't Eat It. Just Wear It.
http://www.candyware.com/