Sainsbury's is hoping to encourage fish-buying customers to switch from cod to pollack by selling the fish in limited edition packaging inspired by the artist Jackson Pollock.

The retailer has commissioned Red or Dead designer Wayne Hemingway and his team to design the packs, which will be on shelf in 10 selected Sainsbury's stores in the run-up to Easter.

The supermarket has also renamed the fish colin (pronounced co-lan) after the French word for cooked pollack, to spare customers' embarrassment when asking for the cheaper cut.

"Image really is everything; so to help colin stand out on shelf we've used bold, bright colours and a design that is cheekily inspired by another well-known pollack (artist Jackson Pollock)," said designer Wayne Hemingway.

"The new look colin sleeve will be the star of the Sainsbury's store, we expect coach loads to travel by land and sea to see it, so I suggest you either keep it safely and sell it on Ebay in the next century, or take it home and enjoy this really tasty fish," he added.

The biomass of cod in the North Sea fell from more than 250,000 tonnes in 1970 to just 37,000 tonnes in 2007. Sainsbury's is hoping the new packaging will encourage shoppers to switch from paying £11.49 per kilo for cod to just £9.90 per kilo for the more sustainable fish.

The new design will be trialled on 2,000 packs across stores in Islington, London; Hove, Sussex; Hull, East Yorkshire; Maypole, Midlands; Winterstoke Road, Bristol; Coldhams Lane, Cambridge; Pound Lane, Norfolk; Archer Road, Sheffield and Marsh Mill in Plymouth.

www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/896594/Sainsburys-aims-boost-popularity-pollack-special-packs/