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Bonfire Night: the war in the air
Posted by Mark Sinclair, 5 November 2010, 12:53 Permalink Comments (17)
Fireworks have always adopted the enticing language of rockets, but recent designs up the militaria, pitching the Star Gazer and Orbiter 9 against the likes of the Scud Hunter and Cyborg Massacre...
Looking in the window of my local newsagents, packed with boxes of fireworks in time for tonight's celebrations, it struck me how different Bright Star Fireworks' packs looked to the traditional sets of rockets, wheels, candles and fountains. There were the Desert Storm and Fire in the Hole packs (contents shown, above); the Air Assault and Armoury collections; and the Apocalypse set, which contained the Death City and End of Days fireworks. The 'ultimate' firework experience, no doubt.
While ‘rockets', ‘mines' and ‘mortars' have been part of the pyrotechnician's vocabulary for decades, it seems that the Shock and Awe nomenclature of modern conflict has become much more prevalent, with some manufacturers aping the design of video games to aid customers in their search for the biggest and baddest explosions.
Fireworks are an interesting product in that they have to differentiate themselves from the competition whilst sat inert in a box. The reason we buy them is, of course, for what happens after we light them. It's an experience that's largely impossible to convey on the box they come in, or on the cardboard tubes that house them. You buy into the potential, which is all tightly packaged up in a mixture of combustible materials.
At fireworkscatalog.com, Bob Weaver has recorded over 6,000 of the different fireworks that appeared on the US market since the late 90s up to the present day. Just within the ‘A' section there are reams of rockets and shells with the prefix Artillery; there are Air Bombs, Air Defenders, Air Raids – though, as a pleasing counterpoint, there's even one called Aaahhhh.
"Twenty to thirty years ago, most fireworks were imported from China and so had names that were made up over there," says Weaver. "Some were very nice, such as Garden of Innumerable Flowers, Spring Greeting and Festival of Happiness, that sort of thing, and the packaging artwork had a more Chinese style to it.
"But as US importers gradually developed their own brands – still manufactured in China, but with American-style package design, there was definitely a trend towards military-inspired names and themes." Weaver, an expert on the US fireworks market who maintains fireworksland.com, suggests that many manufacturers are now perhaps running low on names to convey "the 'big and bad' concept", with up to 500 new fireworks hitting the US market each year.
For comparison, Black Cat fireworks, the Chinese firm who now own the Standard brand which originally founded in Huddersfield, England in 1891, list the contents of their Gold Selection Box as fountains, roman candles, shot tubes, roman candle cakes, wheels, rockets and sparklers.
There's not an assassination, a blitz, or a nuclear fallout in sight.
An old poster for Black Cat's Rockets c.1980s
Going further back, an archive of old Standard Fireworks posters also lists some of the company's earliest brands: there are Fire Tops, Flying Imps, the Shimmering Cascade, the Mount Vesuvius and Scarlet Runners to be had.
The language of space exploration, perhaps reaching its peak during the 1950s and 60s, is still infused in Black Cat's selection of current rocket packs: there's the Star Gazer, Solar Strobes, Sputnik Explorer, Mega Meteors, Mercury Rising, Orbiter 9, and Star Quest to choose from.
Some of the Standard range of fireworks from the 1950s
As an ever-so-slightly geeky child I remember being thrilled even by finding even a dead firework in the garden or on the pavement the morning after Bonfire Night. You often could still make out the colours and names on the side of the rocket.
But picking up an End of Days shell, or the remnants of a Kamikaze Killer? I think I'd have to get my dad.
17 Comments
mmm, the packaging is not very exciting but I always find reading out the warnings on the back to the assembled crowd provided added drama. i.e. LIGHT AND RETREAT 40 METERS, I light and join the crowd about 10ft away, as it fires over next doors house and we can't see it. My tip is go to a public display!
2010-11-05 13:05:30
When I lived in the Netherlands one of our neighbours worked for Nato as a battle-planner. Every New Year's Eve (which is to the Dutch as 5 November is to us) he would march out of his front door with cases and cases of utterly terrifying fireworks - many of which had the same military branding as Bright Star's and were practically mortars - and proceed to methodically and dispassionately fire them off in the street. He'd never smile or say a word, and when he'd set off his last rocket he'd nod at us in satisfaction and go back indoors.
2010-11-05 13:15:16
Fireworks are a strange product: they need to appeal to both the pyromaniacs who just enjoy explosions, to the family audience who Ooh and Aah. Hence, they suffer from the same crisis as cars, how to name them. In the same way the names Picasso and Murcielago both have different connotations towards a mother of three and a single male milionaire, a simple rocket might be called a Whizz-bang or a Cuban Missile, depending on who it's marketed towards. Fascinating stuff.
2010-11-05 13:25:40
I'd rather see an 'End of Days' firework than a 'Whistling Star one in the same way that I'd rather go and see 'Apocalypse Now' than 'Bambi'.
Setting things on fire and explosions are the domain of the adolescent male, hence 'Death City' is awesomer, cooler and generally more exciting than 'Sky Circles'.
2010-11-05 13:51:49
I really hate the design of fireworks, they are very unoriginal, busy and tacky. It seems as soon as anyone is given the job of firework packaging they must demonstrate on the side how loud, big and explosive they are, which they cant! There is a real opportunity to implement the "less is more" strategy and be more suggestive on how big, explosive and powerful the contents are. A more subtle design among the current range would definitely stand out more.
I would be interested to hear what anyone else thinks, about firework design?
2010-11-05 14:25:52
These new fireworks all sound like playground names for farts. I particularly enjoy 'fire in the hole'.
2010-11-05 14:57:05
Is it dangerous to portray fire works as weapons?
"Fire in the hole-Barrage pack" is particularly nasty.
Watch out granny its tactical strike time!
2010-11-05 15:34:06
@Ben Champion
I think fireworks packaging is one of few things where the tackier it looks the better - along with chip shops and christmas.
2010-11-05 16:22:55
good article
2010-11-07 09:02:29
@ Angus, that story was awesome, however I think New Years Eve is a fireworks occasion for everyone really.
A
2010-11-07 14:48:53
The packaging reminds me of toy packaging from when I was young (child of the 80's!) It's pretty horrible to see this trend for products aimed at (no pun) adults celebrate war quite so enthusiastically.
2010-11-08 09:58:21
I hate Ugg Boots.
2010-11-08 10:40:17
@Doctor Black Ah yes, thanks for the nod on the spam
Mark Sinclair
2010-11-08 11:01:00
Game of MW anyone? (No GL, No 3xFrag)
2010-11-08 16:37:19
As someone who can relate to the slightly weird childhood thrill of finding a dead firework in the street, I have to say I loved your article. I am slightly nostalgic for the time when fireworks had less aggressive branding. It was an era when you bought small fireworks individually and kept them in a shoebox under the bed. I looked at the colourful graphics and read the description on a daily basis imagining what each would do.
2010-11-09 16:44:12
"Light up the sky with standard fireworks"
Standard fireworks are still going and for me have a strong brand ident. You also have less aggressive descriptive titles such as 'traffic light'.
It seems, like many have pointed out, like an arms bazaar inside your local supermarket.
Saying that i purchased TNT fireworks this year. They have a Ronseal ethos.
2010-11-10 21:31:55
Who is the manufacturer of brightstar fireworks and what are their details to get in contact with them? Thanks James
2011-12-18 22:46:49
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