When was the last time you looked at a packet of Arnott’s biscuits – like, really looked at it? I’m not talking about those 3pm munchies when you start eyeballing the office stash of Tim Tams. I’m talking about the actual packet design. 

You see, Arnott’s has been very sneaky. The company has been quietly colour-coding its sweet biscuit packaging for the past decade, and we’ve all been so tied up with trying to figure out how you pronounce ‘Nice’ and complaining about the slow but steady decline of Cheds that we remained utterly oblivious. But no more. We see your game, Arnott’s. And, well, we think it’s kind of clever, actually.

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Credit: Woolworths

In ye olden days, all Arnott’s sweet biscuits came in the same white packaging with red lettering. This worked well for overall brand recognition, but as the dizzying array of their biscuits grew ever larger, the big-time biscuit barons decided that some colour coding was necessary, to help consumers better differentiate between their bickies. 

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Credit: Supplied

Now, plain sweet biscuits like Scotch Finger and Choc Ripple come in cream packaging, cream biscuits like Monte Carlo and Kingston come in red packaging, chocolate biscuits like Mint Slice come in brown, and Tim Tams come in various shades, depending on the flavour – brown for chocolate, pink for Iced VoVo, green for Mint, and so on. This all began back in 2015. That was the same year that Zayn Malik left One Direction, in case you want to feel old. 

It does raise some questions: why aren’t cream biscuits in cream packaging? Why is Choc Ripple in cream packaging and not brown? Why are they still making Orange Slice? 

I guess some mysteries will have to remain unsolved. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s 3pm and that stash of Tim Tams isn’t going to eat itself.

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