Packaging Responsibly

July 2008 by Chris Mc Loone

multipage

Since arriving on the package-printing scene two years ago, I have come to appreciate the thought that goes into designing a package. And even though I consider myself a “stick-to-the list” type of shopper, there are still those occasions where a package catches my eye, for whatever reason, and I make the impulse buy. It’s usually in the supermarket, and I’m usually hungry at the time—the perfect storm for such a purchase. It happened recently when I bought brownie mix that was on sale for 10 boxes for $10. No, I did not buy all 10, just one. Was it the image of the brownie that drew me to it or was it the price? If it was the brownie, I don’t think it was the print job on the package that did it, but I could be wrong. Whatever the reason, a brownie mix company got my buck. Nonetheless, product packaging plays a huge role in getting consumers’ attention and holding it. There are so many great effects consumer goods companies can use, but every so often I find myself staring at packaging and wondering, “Why?”

After my family received a whole round of DVDs during the holidays, I began to question the practicality of a common packaging technique—using paperboard “sleeves” to cover plastic DVD cases. Two of my sons received some of their favorite movies for Christmas, and both are quite adept at finding them, removing the the discs, covering them with fingerprints, and often scratching them on something prior to putting them in the DVD player upside down. But just before I started cringing at their handling of the discs, they took the DVD case out of the cardboard sleeve, dropped the sleeve to the floor, and proceeded to step on it en route to the DVD player, ultimately creasing the packaging, ripping it in places, and rendering it useless. The inherent problems with their not looking where they’re stepping notwithstanding, just the idea that there was one more thing to pick up off the floor and put away annoyed me. The boys are 4 and 2, so after going nine rounds to get them to eat their peas, I’ll endure leaving a DVD sleeve on the floor for now.

But since I write about how packaging works to grab consumers’ attention, I put my annoyance aside for a few minutes and took a look at one of the discarded sleeves and tried to figure out how this paperboard sleeve actually serves as functional packaging. Alas, I have yet to find success here.

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