#Picture of a banania skin#

The use of chocolate and banana, two imported products, is quickly associated with the French colonies so it is with no surprise that, from the beginning, the brand decides to use the imagery of an Antillaise (a woman from the French Carribeans). He succeeds and starts commercializing the drink under the name Banania in 1914. In 1909, the journalist Pierre Lardet goes to Nicaragua where he discovers a вЂњdelicious drink made of banana flour, cocoa, crushed grain, and sugar in a village in the heart of the forest.вЂќ(1) Back in Paris, he decides to ask for the help of a pharmacist friend to try and replicate the drink. But first, letвЂ™s do some research! I) BananiaвЂ™s history I donвЂ™t know anyone who works at Banania so to design the new and (hopefully) improved brand identity, IвЂ™m going to observe what they do and speculate on what their goals are as a brand. This is why I decided to try my hand at re-branding it. But, for a brand that has nothing to do with Africa and everything to do with FranceвЂ™s colonial past, itвЂ™s still problematic. Today, Banania uses the image of a black child in, what I could only define as, a less stereotypical fashion.

#Picture of a banania skin#

This brand has always been problematic because of its use of the image of a black man as an emblem and a heavy вЂњcolonization-was-not-that-badвЂќ type of iconography (and of course the red lips and the big grin and the darker than black skin tone on very white вЂњexoticвЂќ attire andвЂ¦ well, you get it). ItвЂ™s been a part of the French landscape since its creation in 1914 and, for a long time, was the number one selling chocolate milk powder in France. In France the Banania brand is now owned by the newly-founded French company Nutrial, which acquired it from Unilever in 2003.Banania is the name of a very popular chocolate drink mainly commercialized in France. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Banania sponsored the Yellow Jersey of the Tour de France. Posters and reproduction tin-plate signs of the pre-war advertising continue to be sold. However, the original advertising has become a cultural icon in France. The form of the character has since evolved, so that now all that remains is the name. Slowly but surely, the slogan and the character became inseparable as the expression was coined: l'ami y'a bon ('the y'a bon buddy'). The slogan Y'a bon ('It's good') derives from the pidgin French supposedly used by these soldiers (it is, in fact, an invention). The brand's yellow background underlines the banana ingredient, and the Senagalese infantryman's red and blue uniform make up the other two main colours. Pierre Lardet took it upon himself to distribute the product to the Army, using the line pour nos soldats la nourriture abondante qui se conserve sous le moindre volume possible ('for our soldiers: the abundant food which keeps, using the least possible space'). Her image was replaced in 1915 with the drawing of a widely smiling Senegalese man.ДЄt the outset of World War I, the popularity of the colonial troops at the time led to the replacement of the West Indian by the now more familiar jolly Senegalese infantry man enjoying Banania.

When he returned to Paris, he started its commercial fabrication and, in 1912, began marketing Banania with the picture of an Antillaise. There are two types of Banania available in French supermarkets: 'traditional' which must be cooked with milk for 10 minutes, and 'instant' which can be prepared in similar fashion to Nesquik.Дuring a visit near Lake Managua, Nicaragua, in 1909, the journalist Pierre Lardet discovered the recipe for a cocoa-based drink. It is made from cocoa, banana flour, cereals, honey and sugar. Banania is a popular chocolate drink found most widely distributed in France.