Strong graphics helped J&J win in the plastic tube category with its Clean & Clear® facial cleanser. Tubed Products (Easthampton, MA) supplies the 18-mil LDPE tube, which is dry offset printed in six colors. Purple and aqua colors are gradated in a proprietary printing process. K-Y® Plus Spermicidal Lubricant was J&J's second award winner. Marketed as a birth control product upon its 1993 introduction, graphics differentiate this from the traditional K-Y product. The tube's structure, "is essentially four layers of PE around aluminum foil," says Kelly Barry, vp of sales marketing for supplier Teledyne Packaging (Chester, PA). A layer of adhesive PE on each side of an aluminum foil layer allows the foil to bond to two outer PE layers. The structure measures 5 mil. Graphics are surface-printed flexographically in three colors by Label Graphics (Little Falls, NJ) and coated with a clear overlacquer. TP injection-molds the HDPE shoulder and neck. Beneath the orifice is a 3.5 mil, T-E seal from 3M (St. Paul, MN) made of PE, polyester and aluminum. It's embossed with the J&J logo in-line, prior to die-cutting. Giovanni's Appetizing Food Products of Richmond, MI, won in the metal tube category (see PW, February '94, p. 8). Victor Tube of (Harrisonburg, VA) supplies the tube. Tube Council of North America, Fax: 212/460-9028.
