The Strange Rise of the Noodle-Goth Aesthetic in FMCG Branding
I was halfway through a packet of instant noodles when it struck me: why the hell does this brand’s packaging look like a Nine Inch Nails album from 1994?
Black matte pouch, aggressive typography, acid green accents. It felt less like dinner and more like a cry for help from a 22-year-old creative director who just discovered Bauhaus and post-irony in the same week.
You’ve seen it, too—this mysterious goth-wave taking over snack foods, energy drinks, skincare, even oat milk. There’s a tension here, because the product inside is often friendly and familiar. But the packaging growls at you from the shelf like it has beef with your lunchbox. It’s a jarring dissonance, and clearly intentional.
This isn’t goth for the sake of edge. It’s a marketing twitch born from a deeper tension in the FMCG world: how to feel niche while going mass. So we get these brooding, brutalist packs whispering cool into products that are anything but. The vibe is very “Twilight meets Trader Joe’s.” And it’s working. Shoppers, especially younger ones, are hungry for contrast—healthy noodles dressed like they might start a noise band. Somewhere in Auckland, a focus group is being served mineral water in black latex-looking bottles and inexplicably buying more of it. Welcome to the age of edible angst.
Black matte pouch, aggressive typography, acid green accents. It felt less like dinner and more like a cry for help from a 22-year-old creative director who just discovered Bauhaus and post-irony in the same week.
You’ve seen it, too—this mysterious goth-wave taking over snack foods, energy drinks, skincare, even oat milk. There’s a tension here, because the product inside is often friendly and familiar. But the packaging growls at you from the shelf like it has beef with your lunchbox. It’s a jarring dissonance, and clearly intentional.
This isn’t goth for the sake of edge. It’s a marketing twitch born from a deeper tension in the FMCG world: how to feel niche while going mass. So we get these brooding, brutalist packs whispering cool into products that are anything but. The vibe is very “Twilight meets Trader Joe’s.” And it’s working. Shoppers, especially younger ones, are hungry for contrast—healthy noodles dressed like they might start a noise band. Somewhere in Auckland, a focus group is being served mineral water in black latex-looking bottles and inexplicably buying more of it. Welcome to the age of edible angst.