The Zoodles Label Controversy

How One Mother's Complaint Was Taken Too Far
On
January 23, 2008
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.
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