Fonts Causing Stubby Chaos

Fonts are a big deal. For most people, it is something that you would not think about or consider. Fonts create all sorts of emotive connections, and it being close to Christmas, there are a plethora of font options. Woolworths lately created a promotional stubby coolers, with a bit of a font problem. Read on to find out more!

Woolworths Stubby Coolers

With Christmas around the corner, everything is in overdrive. More meetings happen, more business activity happens, Christmas parties get thrown in the mix. Everything that usually occurs during the year gets busier and more intense at the end of the year.

Woolworth’s celebration of Christmas includes a promotional stubby cooler. Quite reasonable and ordinary, of course. There was one big mistake, though. The word Christmas was misspelt.

An Honest Mistake

The word Christmas is a longer than usual word. I am sure though that all Aussies will know how to spell it. So the problem I see is with the font. The fancy curvy font used has a great festive feeling around it. Visually speaking, though, it looks s like a nightmare when it comes to legibility. The curves are too dramatic. This makes the spelling error easy to overlook, especially if you were merely glancing at the spelling error.

So why does font matter? When placed on a product, like customised t-shirts or hats, having the wrong type of font conveys to customers one of two impressions: either you don’t care about what your customers think and want, or you aren’t paying attention. Both interpretations do not leave customers with a heightened sense of confidence in your brand!

The Result

It seems like the stubby coolers, never made it to store aisles. Woolworths has promptly pulled the sale from Australian stores. Some Woolworth employees probably took some images and shared them on social media, which is how the image got circulated. I find the misspelling a bit amusing though and can understand how this error came about.

Conclusion

Fonts are often overlooked as an important design aspect when it comes to creating merchandise, but the truth is that font can have a tremendous impact on customer satisfaction. It could very well be argued that selecting the correct font for a particular piece of clothing or accessory can be just as important as choosing fabric and color.

It’s an early lesson to all about the need to check fonts, especially carefully.

images first seen on website: https://www.news.com.au/national/woolworths-recalls-christmas-stubby-holders-over-glaring-typo/news-story/0239fd4420da25de7dd4f7ff948641cb

About the Author

Aiza Cruz

Head of Product & Marketing

Aiza Cruz is the Head of Product & Marketing at Cubic Promote, with over seven years of experience in Australia's branded merchandise and apparel industry. Aiza's expertise in project management enables her to effectively manage bulk orders, ensuring they arrive on time and securely. She also writes industry articles and blogs for Cubic Promote, sharing her insights on product trends and best marketing practices. Aiza’s deep understanding of the industry, combined with her ability to oversee complex and rush orders, has made her a trusted authority in optimising branded merchandise for businesses.