Quatro
Milton Glaser’s Neo Futura a.k.a. Glaser Futura Stencil, better known as Glaser Stencil, in use for Quatro, a short-lived fruity soft drink from the United Kingdom.
From the Guardian:
Quatro was the most notorious of several 1980s attempts to pitch sugary froth to an aspirational teen market. Stats were gathered, groups were focused, ad breaks were booked. The results were a decade distilled: chiselled youths roamed a foggy Blade Runner cityscape, obtaining bespoke laser-hewn cans of the grapefruit, lime, pineapple and orange crush via a steampunk cashpoint. But even a demographic naive enough to count debit cards as cool wouldn’t swallow all that, and four years later the account was closed.
Since 1996, the Quatro brand is owned by the Coca-Cola Company. It’s used for a grapefruit-flavored drink sold in South America. Despite being off the market for more than thirty years, the original Quatro with its four fruit flavors still has fans. There’s even a dedicated Facebook group that lobbies to bring it back.
Hat tip: Lubalin Center
Collection of Quatro paraphernalia incl. coasters, towel, cooling box, from the Quatro Facebook group:
“Quatro is a sparkling mixed crush of pineapple, grapefruit, orange and passion fruit juices. Tastes great on its own or why not try a Q&V, a delicious blend of mixed fruits and vodka / Magic Soft Drink – Miracle Mixer”
The supporting typeface is News Gothic or similar.
4 Comments on “Quatro”
In a weird coincidence, I did a poster for a ceramics show when I was in college in 1976 that had a similar four-way design—also using Glaser Stencil. I’ve been meaning to post an item about it here for a while. I’ll try to do that soon.
I’d love to see your poster!
The 4 Minnesota Ceramicists poster is up – thanks, Mark!
Wikipedia mentions two TV commercials made for Quatro:
They don’t have a lot of type in them, but you can watch them on YouTube: