There's a long story to this simple treatment. You should know that in 1957 the typographic treatment of consumer products was even more chaotic than it is today. This supplanted a Polaroid mark done by someonelse that was set in one of those square serif types such as Stymie or Memphis that rendered the name Polaroid unintelligible. With so many people calling it Poylarode, I resorted to News Gothic as the display type face. Restrained and classy, it is also distinctly American: one of several well designed faces by Morris Fuller Benton (1872-1948). The MBAs in the sales department were opposed to black. They had read Motivation Research flack (Add the Ford Edsel to his portfolio) Ernst Dichter who pronounced black to be a morbid color. After the success of this mark, half the products in the photo marketplace ended up with black packaging or labelling of one kind or another.

Film boxes -- Certificate of Excellence in Packaging, 74, American Institute of Graphic Arts

For more detailed information click on The Branding of Polaroid.