• by Les Luchter , March 26, 2025

Adult consumers can now cover their wounds with “Yellow Chrysanthemums on a Blue Ground” -- or two other masterpieces from 19^th Century Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, whose originals are housed at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met).

It’s part of a new tie-in between Kenvue’s Band-Aid brand and The Met.

Details from the three Hokusai paintings -- which also include “The Great Wave” and “The Lake at Hakone in Sagami Province “ -- are found on Band-Aid bandages contained in a “Designs by Hokusai” metal tin. “The Great Wave” is also depicted on a first aid bag, as is the painting “Brother Rabbit”  by 18^th Century British artist William Morris.

The three products – tin with bandages and two bags – will be available exclusively in Target stores and at Target.com starting April 6.

Why Hokusai and Morris, and why these four paintings?

“With so much incredible art at The Met—over 1.5 million works spanning 5,000 years—we collaborated very closely to handpick memorable designs that truly spark interest and joy,” Steven Maseda, Kenvue’s head of U.S. wound care, tells Marketing Daily. “Through the vetting process, we conducted in-depth consumer research to ensure we selected pieces that shoppers would connect with the most.”

Josh Romm, The Met’s head of global licensing and partnerships, adds that “the selected works…are united by the mutual celebration of nature and the use of the woodblock printing technique, which allowed production of multiples numbering into the thousands.”

Band-Aid and The Met have been in discussions about this collaboration for two years, Maseda says. He calls it a “shared vision….The idea was to take something as everyday as first aid and elevate it by featuring iconic artworks, bringing a touch of beauty to life’s small moments. Both teams saw the opportunity to connect people with art in a fresh, unexpected way.”

In true Met style, the tie-in products are being unveiled at an event today by Olivia Palermo. “As an art and style icon,” Maseda says, Palermo “shares the mission of wanting to introduce art to the world in unexpected ways. Olivia is known for spotlighting beautiful accessories.”

Palermo will help to market these particular accessories through posts on her Instagram feed, which has 8 million followers, and Maseda says that Band-Aid will also be partnering with other “content creators across Instagram who are connected to art, fashion and culture.”

For Target, the Band-Aid/Met collection will be part of its 17-year-old Build Your Own First Aid Kit promotion, in which shoppers who purchase three participating Kenvue items (and previously, Johnson & Johnson Consumer items) receive a free first aid bag.

Maseda says that Band-Aid also plans to “host a sweepstakes in Instagram, offering a fun opportunity to win product bundles and exclusive Met merchandise.”

While Band-Aid in the past has teamed with such brands as Disney, Marvel, and Paramount for product imagery, Maseda says the Met tie-in caters more to adults rather than to kids and their families. “This collection is uniquely designed for an adult audience of art and fashion enthusiasts who value style and function equally,” he declares.

Band-Aid’s use of characters from such properties as “Star Wars,” “Avengers,” “Peanuts,” and “Spider Man” goes back at least 10 years, per a 2015 Marketing Daily story, which also notes that the brand’s “designer Band-Aids” began in 2010 with a “’fashion accessory” from designer Cynthia Rowley, later followed by collaborations with J. Crew and Isaac Mizrahi.

Maseda says that Band-Aid and The Met “were equally inspired by the concept of taking something as everyday as first aid and elevating it into an experience of self-expression. By featuring iconic artworks, the collection transforms moments of care into stylish and meaningful connections to culture – seamlessly blending function with fashion and art.”

The collaboration, however, won’t be part of the trendy Meta Gala in May, Maseda acknowledges. But he promises that the brand, still celebrating the 50^th anniversary of its “Stuck on You” jingle, will continue to “connect with consumers in unexpected, big ways” throughout the year.