Oh man.
After 33 years of red and white packaging, blazing a trail in trollies Australia-wide, Woolies announced today that they’re renaming almost 1000 Homebrand products.
When I read about this shocking news in the paper, I felt sad about it. Sure, there will still be the generic brand goods. It’s just that the black, white and red no-nonsense label we know and love will be gone, replaced by “Essentials” (which will probably look a bit more classy).
Since the rise of cheap grocery chains like Aldi, who sell generic-brand goods with slightly-askew-but-still-fancier-packaging, the SMG reports that Woolies has been fighting the perception that Homebrand is inferior.
So, light a candle for the red and white, as it is relegated to the generic brand rubbish heap alongside Franklins, and Bi-Lo, whose black and white generic-brand packaging spoke of a DIFFERENT TIME. A SIMPLER TIME.
Never forget the black, white and red. Never forget.
So on behalf of the students, the apprentices, the backpackers, the working families of this great country, the people of Australia who flew the red and white like the austerity flag it was, the people whose trollies said “Yes, I’m watching my pennies”, thank you, Homies. Thank you for your flour, and your pasta, your pantry staples, your cheese, and your 85-cent bread. But most of all, thank you for the hidden gems in your product line up. There were some absolute corkers, here’s five of the hits:
The Chocolate Honeycomb:
Was the chocolate thicker or was it the price that made it taste so good?
A photo posted by 외노자 (@jgn_zz) on Dec 5, 2015 at 10:09pm PST
The Cheese Twists:
Because life’s pretty straight without Cheese Twists Flavoured Snacks. (Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?)
The Licorice Bullets
Whose thick coating of chocolate had bullet lovers gunning for more. See also Licorice Allsorts. Those things were fat cubes of dreams.
Dad’s fave and mine too ❤️ #likefatherlikedaughter #bullets #homebrand #theyummiest #cheapbuthighquality #licoricebullets #licorice #tryingnottoeatthemall #woolworths A photo posted by Sarah Kathleen (@smspice) on Jul 26, 2015 at 4:52am PDT
The Bananas
These are the #best #bananas #homebrand #childhood A photo posted by Matt Brain (@mattsbrain) on Nov 20, 2013 at 7:24pm PST
The Cooking Chocolate
A lot of the time didn’t go into much cooking. Don’t tell me you haven’t gone here too for a midnight munch. It’s VEGAN, too. THINK OF THE VEGANS.
Midnight snack :3 #Chocolate:D #sweets #homebrand #fav A photo posted by Myst (@jesryl.sy) on Feb 17, 2015 at 6:41am PST
Need more inspiration? Try Those Two Girls and their lunchbox hacks (post continues after video)
Sure, Sorbent have their labrador puppies on their 4ply printed and embossed TP. But HB paper towel has a rabbit sniffing at its packet. YEAH, Instagram. You tell them.
A video posted by Nemanja (@nemanja_the_rabbit) on Mar 12, 2016 at 10:28pm PST
What were your favourites? Add them in the comments.