CINCINNATI, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Artists put pen to paper to create the designs, fans cast their votes for favorites and today Chiquita Brands International, Inc. announces the 18 designs selected to adorn bananas alongside the company's famous blue sticker. In June, Chiquita invited consumers to personalize their Chiquita experience as part of the Chiquita Banana Sticker Design Contest and fans submitted over 100,000 votes to determine the winning 18 designs from a field of 50 finalists. The 18 grand-prize winners will be awarded the recognition of having their designs featured on millions of Chiquita® bananas nationwide.
"For nearly 50 years the familiar blue sticker has adorned Chiquita bananas," said Tanios Viviani, Chiquita president, global innovation and emerging markets and chief marketing officer. "Now consumers and fans alike are a part of the Chiquita story by helping design and vote for stickers that join the symbol of our company."
Winning designs will be paired with Chiquita's iconic blue sticker and appear on Chiquita bananas in U.S. grocery stores during the month of November. For more details on the contest or to view a complete list of the 18 grand-prize winning stickers, visit http://www.eatachiquita.com/sticker-contest.
About EatAChiquita.com
Chiquita created the fun and interactive website http://www.eatachiquita.com/ as a platform for consumer engagement and entertainment. Within the first six months of its October 2009 launch, more than 500,000 people visited the website and fans created more than 25,000 customized sticker faces using the site's sticker studio application. The site also features a Photo Customizer, allowing fans to add their custom stickers to photos, a Banana Boogie Battle video game, videos and more. The company has also launched Shop A Peel(TM) by Chiquita, an online merchandise store on Zazzle.com where diehard Chiquita fans can go to customize a wide range of items with their personalized sticker faces. For more information, please visit the following websites: http://www.eatachiquita.com/ and http://www.chiquita.com/.
Want to see what else Chiquita is up to? "Like" our Chiquita Banana page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Chiquita) and follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ChiquitaChatter). To see other good news you might have missed, visit our online newsroom (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=119836&p=irol-news&nyo=0), or check out http://www.chiquita.com/.
About Chiquita Brands International, Inc.
Chiquita Brands International, Inc. is a leading international marketer and distributor of high-quality fresh and value-added food products - from energy-rich bananas and other fruits to nutritious blends of convenient green salads. The company markets its healthy, fresh products under the Chiquita® and Fresh Express® premium brands and other related trademarks. With annual revenues of $3.5 billion, Chiquita employs approximately 21,000 people and has operations in nearly 80 countries worldwide. For more information, please visit our corporate website at http://www.chiquitabrands.com/.
Chiquita Brands International, Inc.
CONTACT: Heather Higdon, +1-513-784-8357, hhigdon@chiquita.com; or
Melanie Fitzgerald, +1-858-523-9020, Melanie.fitzgerald@zenzi.com, both for
Chiquita
Web Site: http://www.chiquitabrands.com/
