Crystal Sugar Specs

This circa-1958 box of crystal sprinkles is interesting in its own right, from the messaging ("Kids love 'em on cereals! Unique in the sugar bowl!") to the packaging (the cellophane glasses would've revealed a colorful mix of glass-like sprinkles). But what makes this box of Sugar Specs particularly notable is that it ties in with some significant design history.

The packaging comes from the firm of Brooks Stevens, one of the giants of twentieth-century industrial design. Brooks Stevens designed more than 3,000 products in his lifetime, including the logo for Miller beer, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, and the Harley Davidson motorcycle body. In 1954, he proudly popularized the term "planned obsolescence," which he defined as "instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary." footnote The concept sparked immediate controversy within the industrial design community, which continues to this day.

The Brooks Stevens collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum includes a photo of a similar box of Sugar Specs, complete with sugar crystals inside.