By Kendra Belton, FCHoF Student Fellow
Blog Installment One—East Coast Citrus, West Coast Citrus: Citrus Crate Labels in Florida and California, A Study in Comparisons
Advertisements are
convincing. That is what they are meant to do. They want to convince buyers to
purchase their products. The most successful advertisements had different
effects. The iconic 1942 “Rosie the Riveter” ad, for example, persevered for a
long time. It originally boosted female morale during World War II. Even after
that, “Rosie” went on to be an important feminist symbol (“Who Was Rosie the
Riveter?”). Other advertising campaigns, like Volkswagen’s 1962 “Think Small,”
helped shift the focus of advertisements. Instead of only highlighting
function, the Volkswagen ads also focused on style (“How Volkswagen”). Some had
emotional appeal, including the 1971 “I’d Like To Buy the World a Coke”
commercial (“I’d Like To”). On the other hand, commercials also borrowed from
popular media. For example, Apple’s 1983 Super Bowl commercial for the
Macintosh computer was inspired by George Orwell’s 1984. Still more
advertisements shifted the narrative to focus on truth, like the early 2000s
Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty” (“No. 1 Dove”). And some ads went for hilarity.
These ads include the Aaron Burr commercial as part of the “Got Milk?” campaign
and the iconic “No Regerts” tattoo from the “Sorry, I Was Eating a Milky Way!”
commercials (“Why ‘Got Milk,’” Arioli 2015). Regardless of how the advertising
campaign went about it, many stand out in the history of advertisements. One
classic mode of advertising found its place in the citrus industry: crate
labels.
Introduction
Citrus crate labels may be beautiful
and well-designed collectible items today, but they were not always so prized.
They have always been attractive, but their purpose in the early to
mid-twentieth century was much different from mere display. Instead, the labels
were once practical advertising, sometimes known as the “billboards” of the
citrus industry. With their varying lithography, fonts, brand names, and sizes,
labels competed for a buyer’s attention. After all, the citrus inside one crate
was not much different from the citrus inside the next crate. While the citrus
industry was also present in Arizona and Texas, Florida and California were by
far the most notable producers. Florida and California each had their own form
of citrus labels, but California’s labels were the original model. Despite both
states selling citrus products, Florida and California differed in their
advertising and citrus products.
California’s citrus industry first
introduced citrus crate labels near the end of the 1880s. These labels were
essential to the increase of national sales, made possible by the completed
Transcontinental Railroad (McClelland & Last 1995, 6–7). California’s
orange and grapefruit crate labels were ten inches by eleven inches to fit the
sides of a typical wooden shipping container. In contrast, Florida’s labels
only dated back to 1900, and they were smaller. They began at nine inches by
nine inches before eventually decreasing to six inches by six inches and three
inches by nine inches. However, these measurements still represented grapefruit
and oranges. Longer rectangular labels in California denoted lemon products;
Florida did not grow lemons. The nationwide citrus industry ceased producing
labels in the 1950s because cardboard shipping boxes with pre-printed designs
replaced the wooden shipping crates.
Californian lithographers worked on
labels for both states, consistently producing “refined advertising images”
(McClelland & Last 1995, 113). Floridian lithographers, though, marked
design distinctions between the two state styles, resulting in what some
describe as images of poorer quality, with their “flat color, poster graphic
approach” (McClelland & Last 1995, 114). Still, what Florida’s images may
have lacked in depth, they made up for in thematic expression; they ventured
into territories generally unknown, with “unusual depictions of alligators,
pirates, Civil War subjects and scantily clad women,” though California was
also a bit familiar with these designs (McClelland and Last 1995, 114).
In
addition to design variations, the marking of quality grades took different
avenues. For Florida, blue themes and backgrounds denoted Grade A oranges and
grapefruit. Sometimes “blue” or “fancy” in the title aided the fruit’s visual
classification. As for Grade B, this “choice” Florida fruit carried a red
label. Grade C, or mixed-grade, was labeled green or yellow (Gernert 2011).
When it came to California’s grade distinctions, the industry held similar
boundaries between the quality of the fruits. Separate designs indicated those
grades, even within the brands. Sometimes, the labels mirrored Florida’s
color-coding, but not always. California’s Grade A citrus boasted a Sunkist
Sunburst trademark, and the Grade B citrus bore a Red Ball trademark. The standard
fruit, or mixed-grade, labels lacked any quality markings (A. McClelland n.d.,
G. McClelland n.d.). California also used “fancy” and “choice” labels. However,
“fancy” and “choice” described citrus that did not fit under the Sunkist
Sunburst trademark (Salkin and Gordon 1976, 8). Mixed-grade citrus fruits often
had a poor appearance, even if they did not have a bad taste, earning brand
names such as “Mutt” or “Camouflage” (Bell 2011). The quality was on the
inside, in the juice.
In fact, for Florida, the juice was,
and continues to be, where most of the state’s citrus quality lies. During the
time of citrus crate labels, Florida produced mostly Valencia and Hamlin
oranges, which are better suited for juicing than for eating. Their thin peels
make effective transportation difficult; if transported nationwide for eating,
the outside of the orange would likely become battered by the time it reached
customers, decreasing the chances of someone buying the orange for eating.
However, Valencia oranges are juicier on the inside than California eating
oranges, so they are best for juicing. California also grew Valencia oranges,
but Florida’s Valencias proved to be more successful in the juice market.
California’s Navel orange, on the other hand, has a firmer, thicker skin, which
makes it the perfect orange for transportation (“The Citrus Cold War”). It is
also easier for people to peel and, therefore, easier to eat. Both states also
produced grapefruit.
The original California
packinghouses, manufacturing labels for oranges and grapefruit, believed that
women would purchase the most fruit. So, the lithographers designed labels that
they thought had a “feminine appeal.” However, researchers discovered that the
labels actually mattered most to wholesalers, also known as jobbers. These men
would buy citrus by the crate to sell as different products. As a result,
lithography shifted to follow a more “masculine appeal.” For example, images
representing women “underwent a major transformation, constantly becoming more
seductive” (Salkin and Gordon 1976, 15–16). It appears that the shift occurred
sometime between the 1920s and the 1930s, and it is essential to reflect on
this idea when examining various citrus labels.
The citrus crate labels proved
informative on many levels, revealing the fruit’s origin, quality, and purpose.
Though California and Florida differed in their label designs and fruit
purposes, their products still reached nationwide markets for citrus fruits and
juices. Now that the original use of citrus labels is obsolete, the labels
themselves are an object of observation and discussion among collectors and
historians. By understanding the basic differences between the orange and
grapefruit crate labels of California and Florida, audiences gain a deeper
understanding of the themes of the labels. Those themes include flora, fauna,
transportation, holidays, and stereotypes, providing insight into the
perspectives and mindsets of the American public, especially the jobbers, up
through the 1950s.
Bibliography:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YnuEs3oAUlnwe6uMgSDLNpKpRFnYq4YQ/view?usp=sharing
Images Cited:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19IXXoGwo7wfoX5_pUd4beO1750tpg4fl/view?usp=sharing
