Cutie Mandarins

By Kieran

 Cutie Mandarins - a Modern Marvel of Marketing



Original artwork and poem by Kieran Gonsalves (c) 2026, inspired by the success story of Cutie mandarins


Sweet mandarin oranges were imported into the US, but only became cool.
When Sun Pacific started targeting the product for kids in the school!

They sold it as a hygienic, easy to peel and sweet ready-to-eat snack.
Once busy Mums bought into it, there was absolutely no looking back...

45,000 acres in California's San Joaquin valley were cultivated soon.
75 million boxes shipped with the name 'Cutie', 'twas a marketing boon!

The trick was monoculture on a large scale without cross pollination,
Keeping bees away from the orchard at least for the flowering duration.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Kieran

Thanks for sharing your daily creative pieces. Much Appreciated

Was wondering how do u decide what to paint, everyday?

How does the poetry evolve? (WhatsApp comment from a dear schoolmate)
January 21, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Kieran said…
My reading habits started as early as standard VI when we moved to Pune and I joined St Vincent’s
My parents subscribed to various magazines like National Geographic, Time, (later) Newsweek, Readers Digest, Junior Statesman (from Calcutta) etc
That habit stayed with me, I would spend entire days in summer devouring books from lending libraries or even sit in British Council Library and read and read
So my interest and knowledge is quite vast

Now to answer your question. In October 2024, I hadn’t picked up a paint brush since standard 7 or 8, because I was horrible at it
But then I remembered what architect/artist Tushar Manohar Shetty (now my guru in absentia) told me.
He said all of us are blessed with talent. Unfortunately all of us also have doubts that prevent us from sharing our talents
His solution was elegant and simple
Take good materials (paper, pencils, crayons, paints etc) and do one artwork a day
Never mind if it comes good or bad - just keep going and in 3 weeks you’ll find your style
I did and it worked
So daily I pick a blank sheet of 300 gsm cotton pressed paper and paint something that inspires me from an art perspective
For example the last 3 days
- Brrapsody in blue was a study in blue shades and shadows
- ⁠Tide waits for no man was a study also in blue but in water/waves
- ⁠Mandarin was a technique using salt to create a textured orange peel

I get ideas from artists I follow on social media (all social media algorithms reinforce any idea you 👍🏼)

The art always comes first. But I like my posts to be entertaining and informative

So I dive into my knowledge bank and pull out a thread that is relevant

The poem is usually a quick 3 to 5 minute work - often with spelling mistakes- but I do it all in 30-45 minutes, including sending it to 100 friends.

And I update my blog https://kieranart.blogspot.com

Cheers,
Kieran
January 21, 2026 at 7:30 PM
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