Well am here in KL, and I came across redesigned yakult bottles in one of the fridges. Upon first glance, how this design has evolved from the iconic original isn’t all that apparent. But if you’re familar with the original, you’d have noticed that the designers have shifted the bottle’s characteristic waist further down the body. Together with the tummy tuck, version two somehow looks like a newfangled trash bin. After several decades of its prdecessor being an integral part of local market and fridge shelves and lunchboxes, the new one just looks weird.

On the plus side, there’s an extendible straw. To clarify, it’s telescopic, and not the usual accordion sort. No longer will kids and the occassional parent have to fiddle with storing the remaining straws in a convenient location. Nor will they have to deal with the silly, though unlikely fear of losing the entire pack of straws.

The telescopic arrangement’s a neat little design coup – I think the guys who were responsible for it are feeling warm all over, and rightly so. However, the unique way in which it was designed makes piercing the foil top a bit more cumbersome. Extending the siphon beforehand, as nearly everone would, is pointless as it simply collapses upwards.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of the revamp, but that’s what markets need nowadays. Unless you have your probiotic milk drinks on the go, despite them needing refrigeration, the redesign isn’t all that fantastic.

I’ll stick with vitagen instead.