Snags of creative packaging
Marketers should not forget ethics while promoting their products.
ISLAMABAD:
If I say the world we live in today bribes us with illusions of creativity concealing the real deal of the product, it won’t be an exaggeration.
We are overwhelmed and bewildered by the seemingly interesting packaging, yet the products inside are so much the opposite as presented. Companies are playing with the package designs in order to encourage consumers to buy their products but while achieving this objective they have started compromising the quality.
Packaging being the crucial element for a brand helps it break through a clutter to attract targeted consumers. While selling their products, companies forget the ethical dilemmas associated with unauthentic packaging and make their products look tempting and catchy.
They overstate facts, for example, 100% pure orange juice, 85% less fat butter, sugar-free cake, etc. This misleading information usually becomes a reason for the customers to buy the product that affects their health.
As French artist Edgar Degas said, “the art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Marketing firms just play this game. They make buyers think about their product the way they want, not how it actually is!
The quantity and quality of the actual product is concealed behind the immense creativity of the packaging. A packet of chips has 60% to 70% of air in it. It seems like you are paying the price for purchasing air rather than chips.
A cake packaged in a brown paper would certainly be more unpleasant than a cake packaged in a fancy box with sprinkled glitter. We don’t even consider the fact that “looks are often deceptive” and the taste and quality of the former might be better.
Of course, the impressive packaging is more prone to become the quintessential sign of quality in our minds. But then again the packaging companies are not the only ones to blame; we are equally delusional based upon the looks.
Colours and characters
The use of captive colours and characters to catch the sight of consumers is another technique used by marketers these days. These striking colours are often used to encourage children to buy harmful foodstuff which destroys not only dentition but also hampers their activities through obesity.
Kids make use of diverse persuading tactics to make their parents fulfill their cravings. “My child is a significant member of the decision-making process in our house, his demands are catered extensively and they mostly include purchase of products with cartoon characters on their packaging,” stated a woman in a grocery store.
Talking about manipulation I must enlighten about my 17-year-old sister, who is suffering from severe toothache and not to forget “her obesity issues”. This is how these manipulations and the attractions towards junk conclude.
Candies, chocolates, chips, etc are the unhealthy items which are mostly marketed to children. “I am totally against this funky packaging, because it plays with our children’s mind to incline them towards junk food,” was the view of a woman, Natasha, in the store.
“The boxes with visually attractive patterns are used to make the target customers skip the important facts about the nutritional aspect of the good.” So, basically well-known movies and cartoons and also the catchy colours hypnotise the nutrition and taste in choosing a food item by kids.
However, it’s not just the food items to which kids get attracted. I have seen many children forcing their parents to buy items which they don’t even know about like tooth pastes, tissue boxes, shampoos, etc. They just demand that product because of their favourite characters or colours on them.
Healthy intake of food should be given significance for numerous reasons; one reason is the drastically increased apprehension about obesity in Pakistan.
Among many other reasons, attractive packaging has also played vitally in enhancing obesity. According to the global burden of disease study, Pakistan is the ninth most obese country out of 188.
Healthy items
Use of these techniques of packaging for actual healthy items can cause people to attain good health. These healthy items may include fruits, milk, etc. Not only that, it will help parents to feed their kids with healthy food without the elimination of their will and exertion of force.
Hygiene enhancing items can also be made attractive for children in order to increase their will to incline towards sanitation. The way “commander safeguard” is increasing awareness among kids regarding cleanliness is worth applause.
Marketers should not forget the ethics while promoting the products. Being greedy and selfish might benefit, but only in the short run. However, to retain customers, it is important to work on the quality and quantity simultaneously with packaging. This would also be ethically correct!
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2014.
If I say the world we live in today bribes us with illusions of creativity concealing the real deal of the product, it won’t be an exaggeration.
We are overwhelmed and bewildered by the seemingly interesting packaging, yet the products inside are so much the opposite as presented. Companies are playing with the package designs in order to encourage consumers to buy their products but while achieving this objective they have started compromising the quality.
Packaging being the crucial element for a brand helps it break through a clutter to attract targeted consumers. While selling their products, companies forget the ethical dilemmas associated with unauthentic packaging and make their products look tempting and catchy.
They overstate facts, for example, 100% pure orange juice, 85% less fat butter, sugar-free cake, etc. This misleading information usually becomes a reason for the customers to buy the product that affects their health.
As French artist Edgar Degas said, “the art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Marketing firms just play this game. They make buyers think about their product the way they want, not how it actually is!
The quantity and quality of the actual product is concealed behind the immense creativity of the packaging. A packet of chips has 60% to 70% of air in it. It seems like you are paying the price for purchasing air rather than chips.
A cake packaged in a brown paper would certainly be more unpleasant than a cake packaged in a fancy box with sprinkled glitter. We don’t even consider the fact that “looks are often deceptive” and the taste and quality of the former might be better.
Of course, the impressive packaging is more prone to become the quintessential sign of quality in our minds. But then again the packaging companies are not the only ones to blame; we are equally delusional based upon the looks.
Colours and characters
The use of captive colours and characters to catch the sight of consumers is another technique used by marketers these days. These striking colours are often used to encourage children to buy harmful foodstuff which destroys not only dentition but also hampers their activities through obesity.
Kids make use of diverse persuading tactics to make their parents fulfill their cravings. “My child is a significant member of the decision-making process in our house, his demands are catered extensively and they mostly include purchase of products with cartoon characters on their packaging,” stated a woman in a grocery store.
Talking about manipulation I must enlighten about my 17-year-old sister, who is suffering from severe toothache and not to forget “her obesity issues”. This is how these manipulations and the attractions towards junk conclude.
Candies, chocolates, chips, etc are the unhealthy items which are mostly marketed to children. “I am totally against this funky packaging, because it plays with our children’s mind to incline them towards junk food,” was the view of a woman, Natasha, in the store.
“The boxes with visually attractive patterns are used to make the target customers skip the important facts about the nutritional aspect of the good.” So, basically well-known movies and cartoons and also the catchy colours hypnotise the nutrition and taste in choosing a food item by kids.
However, it’s not just the food items to which kids get attracted. I have seen many children forcing their parents to buy items which they don’t even know about like tooth pastes, tissue boxes, shampoos, etc. They just demand that product because of their favourite characters or colours on them.
Healthy intake of food should be given significance for numerous reasons; one reason is the drastically increased apprehension about obesity in Pakistan.
Among many other reasons, attractive packaging has also played vitally in enhancing obesity. According to the global burden of disease study, Pakistan is the ninth most obese country out of 188.
Healthy items
Use of these techniques of packaging for actual healthy items can cause people to attain good health. These healthy items may include fruits, milk, etc. Not only that, it will help parents to feed their kids with healthy food without the elimination of their will and exertion of force.
Hygiene enhancing items can also be made attractive for children in order to increase their will to incline towards sanitation. The way “commander safeguard” is increasing awareness among kids regarding cleanliness is worth applause.
Marketers should not forget the ethics while promoting the products. Being greedy and selfish might benefit, but only in the short run. However, to retain customers, it is important to work on the quality and quantity simultaneously with packaging. This would also be ethically correct!
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2014.