It’s not what’s on the outside that matters, it’s what’s on the inside. Everyone’s mom’s favorite quote.
But this time, we’re not talking about personality. Rather, a crafty brewery has taken it upon themselves to bring the art of disguise to new heights.
In a two-part series posted to TikTok this week, a Canadian couple found themselves baffled at one company’s latest packaging trick. Already receiving more than 4 million views and 152,900 likes on her first video, Danni Kovunenko (@danni.do.ups) and her partner begin to cut-up cans of their Sunday night cocktails. And the results were nonetheless shocking.
“You’re actually kidding,” Danni says.
In disbelief, Danni brings her phone over to her partner who appears to be cutting a can over the kitchen sink. Labeled as “Copper Club Cocktails,” the can is marketed as a spicy-mango flavored cocktail.
Danni holds the phone close to the can as he splices off the plastic labeling with a hunting knife.
So what did Danni discover?
“It’s actually a lemon-lime Happy Dad?” Danni questions.
Giggling at the outcome, the pair hold up the plastic wrapping of the can, fully exposing the Happy Dad can underneath.
Their experimenting didn’t end here, in a follow-up video, Danni takes off the wrapping of another can from the set. And to no one’s surprise, the results were the same.
“It’s another Happy Dad,” Danni says. “It’s a different flavor, it’s pineapple now.”
Surely enough, Danni points the phone at the can and what else is there to see other than a Happy Dad Pineapple seltzer can.
Now because Happy Dad is a low carbonation hard seltzer company manufactured out of California, how did their cans wind-up disguised as a small-business canned cocktail?
How did this happen?
Well, according to Danni’s viewers, this may actually be a common practice in the brewing industry.
“Printing on cans is really expensive and large breweries can buy in bulk,” one commenter begins. “As a result they will often sell cans to smaller breweries that intend to cover [them] with vacuum-sealed labels.”
“It’s actually likely that that brewery just used those painted cans and sleeved them to save money or just avoid wasting the empty cans,” another commenter added.
And it turns out that these commenters may be on to something.
Because Copper Club is a relatively small label with little-to-no digital footprint, it’s not unheard of for them to outsource their cans from larger brands. If a brewer is looking to get in the market quickly they may wrap their cans rather than print on them directly. This creates one less thing they need to budget for.
Coupled with this, many can manufacturers, such as Ball Corporation, require that breweries purchase their cans in specific quantities, meaning large bulk. So when companies, like Happy Dad, purchase their cans, they sometimes end up with excess amounts. And the quick fix to this? Sell them at cheaper prices to smaller companies.
The tactic creates a sense of mutualism between the companies, allowing both parties to succeed exclusively.
“That’s actually great to see, they are recycling and just wrapping the old cans,” a commenter points out.
And while it cannot be confirmed at this time if this is the true explanation behind Danni’s discovery. There is a good chance that these commenters pointed her mystery in the right direction.
The Daily Dot reached out to Danni (@danni.do.ups) via TikTok DM and comment section. The Daily Dot also reached out to Happy Dad.
Update Nov. 23, 6:48am CT: According to Happy Dad CEO Sam Shahidi, “[T]he cans were not authorized to be released or used by us. We are aware of Copper Club using our fans as fans have reported to us. We are investigating this matter.”
@danni.do.ups Caught me off guard ! #happydad ♬ original sound – Danni Kovtunenko
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