The Ubiquitous Flip
At first glance, this is a confectionery mashup. The familiar gold wrapper of a Quality Street Toffee Penny. The branding of Milkybar. The theme of doughnuts. But the format is the most interesting part. It is a tape dispenser. Specifically, it’s an object with a simple, hinged cutting blade that you flip up and down.
This mechanism, the ‘flip’, is one of the most common design features in household goods. It is a basic pivot. It solves a problem with one moving part. Once you start looking for it, you see it everywhere. It is the defining feature of a very strange and disconnected family of products sold across the UK, from kitchenware to children’s toys.
A Unifying Hinge
The category of ‘things that flip’ is remarkably broad. It covers food storage, like the 5-litre Locknlock Kitchen Caddy with Flip To Lid, and M&S dips that come in a ‘Flip Dip’ format, including both Red Pepper & Cream Cheese and Basil with Pesto Drizzle varieties.
It is common in reusable drink bottles. Smidge uses it for its 900ml and 1.2-litre Flip Straw Bottles, as does Stanley for its Iceflow range. The action appears on outdoor items like the Gardman Flip Top Seed Feeder. It is even central to toys, such as the Clementoni Disney Baby Mickey Flip Phone and the Floss Rock Waterpad Flip Book. These products have no connection. Not by brand, user, or function. Only the hinge.
What the real range looks like
A Toffee Penny tape dispenser would be a stationery item in this loose category of products defined by a hinged component. Its neighbours on the shelf would be Stanley’s Iceflow Bottle Flip Straw, the M&S Flip Dip, and a Clementoni Disney Baby Mickey Flip Phone. They are all linked by a single, simple mechanism.
- Gardman Flip Top Seed Feeder
- Floss Rock Waterpad Flip Book Space
- Smidge Flip Straw Bottle Citrus 1 2l
- Smidge Flip Straw Bottle Citrus 900ml
- M S Flip Dip Red Pepper Cream Cheese Dip
- Clementoni Disney Baby Mickey Flip Phone
- M S Flip Dip Basil Dip with Pesto Drizzle
- Smidge Flip Straw Bottle Summer Blush 1 2l
- Locknlock Kitchen Caddy with Flip To Lid 5l
- Smidge Flip Straw Bottle Summer Blush 900ml
Frequently asked questions
- Is this edible tape?
- The concept appears to be for standard adhesive tape. The original creator’s caption described it as ‘pure stationery goals’, suggesting a novelty desk item rather than a food product.
- What is a Quality Street Toffee Penny?
- The Toffee Penny is one of the classic sweets in a Nestlé Quality Street assortment. It is a round, hard toffee in a distinctive gold foil wrapper, the shape of which is mimicked by this dispenser concept.
- Is the Quality Street Toffee Penny Tape Dispenser real?
- No, this is a Snackfish. It is a mockup image created by the online artists UK Snack Attack. The product is not in development and is not sold anywhere.
More like this
- M&S Nutella Colin the Caterpillar Cake Mockup
- M&S Strawberries and Cream Doughnuts Concept Appears
- Jammie Dodgers Jam Doughnuts Concept Appears Online
You have been Snackfished!
Snackfish :
[sn-a-ck-fish] verb
A snack that lies about its legitimacy as an official product online for internet clout and attention. Most commonly fabricated in Adobe Photoshop or using the unofficial Snackfish AI