The Zoodles Label Controversy

How One Mother's Complaint Was Taken Too Far

When I was a kid I loved Zoodles canned pasta. Any kid would like it but the controversy that surrounded the Zoodles label was something that's talked about even in this century.

I was watching a Zoodles commercial on You Tube and it reminded me of the controversy surrounding the palm trees on the label.

The Zoodles Commercial Lyrics

Have you ever gone hunting
with a bowl and spoon
well you can with Libby's Zoodles

Elephants, Lions, Zebras, Giraffes
Zoodles are animal noodles

Come on tell all your friends
tell a whole bunch.....
"I just had a hippopautamus for lunch"

Well have you ever gone hunting
with a bowl and spoon
get hunting with Libby's Zoodles

Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, Zoodles.

As I remember it I was 9 years old and had a love for Zoodles canned spahgetti. Yes Elephants, Lions, Zebras, and Giraffes. What little kid didn't like that sort of thing?

If you don't remember the controversy which surrounded the Zoodles labels let me give you a little history lesson. I remember this quite well because I was 9 and I'm still laughing at this as I type.

The notorious Zoodles label which was the cause of some unintentional buzz after an overzealous mother wrote to the company and complained that the palm tree looked like a penis when the can was turned upside down. This discovery led the Libby's company to remove the palm trees from the Zoodles labels.

It seems that an overzealous mother wrote to the Libby's Food company and complained that the palm tree on her can of Zoodles resembled a penis when it was turned upside down. That's right people a mother complained that the palm trees that were on the Zoodles label resembled a penis.

To illustrate this point I took the Zoodles label that I saved from the internet and using the rotate feature from Paint Shop Pro I rotated the label 190 degrees.

This is the Zoodles label rotated at 190 degrees using Paint Shop Pro.

Personally I don't see it looking that much like a penis myself. I didn't see it when I was 9 and I don't see it now.

I can't help but find this to be a bit funny. You buy a can of Zoodles for your kids and then complain to the company that a palm tree resembles a penis when you turn the can upside down. I was 9 so I wouldn't have even noticed this even if it jumped up a bit me. My mother certainly didn't notice it.

It prompted Libby's, the company behind Zoodles, Alpha-Getti,UFOs and Scarios pasta, to redesign the Zoodles label without the palm trees in the background.

This is what happens when parents don't have a life outside of their children. Seriously this mother needed to get herself a hobby and stop worrying about other people's children.

I think that this controversy over the Zoodles label was taken too literally. The fun of the Zoodles label was spoiled forever. I think that in the end it's what's inside the can that can't ever be spoiled for anyone. Of course I didn't quite understand it when it happened. All I knew is that I liked Zoodles.

To some kids that kind of thing doesn't matter. All that matters to some kids is that they get to eat the food that's inside the can.

The whole point of this article is that mothers should worry about their own children and stop worrying about other people's children.

I mentioned this on the Zoodles commercial's page but nobody knew what I was talking about until I explained it a bit better. All I got was ??? and Double ??????.

I wasn't until I explained that someone complained to the company that "the palm tree on the label looked like a penis" that people started remembering.

It was fun to look back on this and laughing at the controversy for a while.

Comments

I remembered the jingle when I started reading the lyrics, but still don't really remember the pasta & was never aware of this controversy (or if I was aware at the time, I've 100% forgotten it).

I dunno folks. My children loved zoodles and we'd always pick out two or three cans whenever we went grocery shopping. I remember being shown this at a party in the early 90s and was flabergasted. The penis is one thing, but take a look at the elephant's bum and you'll realize why he is smiling.

There's no way that was accidental. I think there might have been one or two other things...

the true thing is when your a mother and a upside dowm palm tree males you think of a penis you have problems

I really don't understand why people complain about stuff like this, it must be their dirty mind, its not as if the target audience would have noticed it. I remember a simalar controversy surrounding some McDonalds toys in the UK, they were some dragons that had a weight inside them so that they floated on a plastic base that was shaped like different things depending on what dragon it was, anyway this one dragon had a rock base that kinda looked like an erect penis, parents complained and they were withdrawn within days and as a result have become pretty rare.

I remember this being front page news in the Cape Breton Post with a picture of a crazy mother pointing at the upside down Zoodles can. For all I know she could have been crazy mother number one who made the call on the upside-down male porno Zoodles can.

I don't remember eating it (I might have), and I certainly don't remember any controversy about it.

Very nice article, at any rate.

That is so sad. I can't say I ever even eat this stuff, though.

Actually I can recall the days of kids' pasta from yesteryear. Especially those from Franco-American and other brands. Before healthy foods became the rage, I recall Libby's started the whole 'no preservative/no additives' policy with their foods. My cousin Stephen usually ate Libby's brands for the same exact reason most kids did. Allergies to chemical food additives, including corn syrup, which meant Steve couldn't eat just about any type of candy, gum, cereal or processed foods.

But I digress, as for the controversy, I do agree, the parent interpreted on what SHE viewed and not what was printed by the company's art design. Kinda reminds me of the time they literally pulled off a harmless adult comedy video off the rental market. I won't name the tape, but on the back of the package, they showed a rather risque, but harmless, scene. And apparently some kids found it and giggled at the image, whereas some overzealous parent freaked and started a campaign for pulling the tape off the shelves.

The irony of it all was, the kids absolutely had no idea what the scene was really about, or why their parent considered it offensive until AFTER it was made known about what the scene was really about. Meaning rather than protect the kids, the parent inadvertently exposed them to what they deemed as 'inappropriate viewing.' Same with the Zoodles image, because I seriously doubted the kids cared what the palm tree really looked like if you turned it upside down or not, until AFTER the stink was made.

Just demonstrates on how silly we can be over ludicrious items.

Yes I do. There was Dino-Getti, Alpha-Getti, UFOs, and Scarios. The thing that I loved most about Libby's canned pasta in sauce as opposed to the Chef, Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee, is that Libby's pasta didn't contain any chemical food aditives, like MSG, that I would have had a really bad reaction from.
The last time I reacted to anykind of chemical food additive the entire left side of my body went numb. I kid you not I couldn't even open my eye the reaction was so bad.

Remember all the other great shaped pasta we had as a kid? Dino-getti and the one with ghosts whose name escapes for some reason. I still eat zoodles for lunch on occasion and I still enjoy them!

I agree, that lady had TOO much time on her hands... Prevert

lol, i forgot about that. man, some moms had too much time on thier hands. or too much penis on the brain.

Her dirty mind turned it into what she thinks it is. Tells you a lot about what kind of person she is.

oh jeez after reading this i just remembered

u need bigger pictures. its too small. but good article tho

That's what I thought. I can understand where some of you are coming from where kids would have issues with it. But in this particular case it was the parent that had more issues with it than the kids did.
I didn't care because I hadn't noticed that it was pornographic until I really looked at it.

Wow, how stupid. It kinda sorta looks like one, but only if you're looking for it. I'd be more concerned about the sodium content of the food inside the can instead of the vaguely phallic tree on the label. O_o

Personally, after squinting and looking hard, and takin off my glasses and shoving the monitor in my face, it looks more like a dick when its rightside up then upside down (which isn't all that much).

I'd say something about too much time on peoples hands (oh crap I just did XD), but when you have things such as "'sex' in The Lion King" and "'Good kids take off your clothes' in Aladdin", it sort of speaks for itself.

That's absolutely ridiculous, but hilarious! It may resemble a penis somewhat when turned upside down, but really, how many phallic objects are there lying around one's house anyway? I can count about five from where I'm sitting (stifle your giggles). I'm in agreement with volkstraum---a child would have issues if he or she went looking for penises on food packaging.....and apparently so do some adults.

it looks like a penis, but only for people that are looking for it quite hard. Would 8 year-old boys and girls be looking on all packaging for pee-pees? i think not. And if so, there would be more serious issues for the child.

I don't think I would have seen it if you hadn't told me it was there.
I think all the animals know that it's there.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=3treMuGiCVM

Here's the link for the Zoodles commercial. Notice how the cans don't have the upside down penis like palm trees on the labels anymore.
I wouldn't have noticed anything like this unless someone pointed it out to me so I didn't really care because I was reaching that age where I just didn't care.

Zoodles is canned pasta in animal shapes. I'm still laughing at this because if someone is that overly sensitive to their kids being exposed to something like that it would be better if they didn't buy Zoodles at all rather than spoil it for the rest of us.

parents can be so stupid these days...they blame things on other people either for attention, money, or both. oh well...

BTW the pictures u posted werent big enough, i actually found a bigger one on google though so its no big deal. i can see how the coconuts look like the testicles...but thats all...

you can kinds see it, but it's still nothing that anyone should complain about.

I think you meant you rotated it 180Â°.

Interesting article, reminds me of "The Little Mermaid" penis debacle (as others have already mentioned).

it is no big deal but c'mon it does look like a penis.

I never heard of Zoodles before, but I remember the Little Mermaid thing...no pun intended. I still have the VHS somewhere.

Reminds me a lot of the controversy behind the supposed phallic castle spire on the VHS cover of "The Little Mermaid".

Kill all soccer moms.

lmao stupid soccer moms