Packaging And Warnings

Packaging for consumer products that are sold today at grocery stores are getting me worked up today because I had a confrontation with one of those things this morning. Maybe the worst kind of modern food packaging, the one that frustrated me today, is the container with a clear plastic snap on lid and a styrofoam base. They put many bakery items in that thing, and it's enough to make me want to go on a sugar free diet, because I get frustrated both trying to open them (they break as often as they open when I try to do it) or when I close it (The lid never seems to close on both ends). If you don't know what kind of packaging I am writing about I am not explaining it well enough because it is everywhere in the world. We should find the inventor of that and have he or she placed under house arrest to prevent any more of his ideas from coming to market.

Another plastic container I hate is the kind that is thicker and houses electronic and other more expensive and delicate devices, like a hard drive for instance. How does one open those? I always wind up getting so frustrated trying to pry it open that I just get scissors and cut it open. They use this type to keep customers from getting inside to tamper or steal the product. And like the other plastic container I mentioned above, it provides protection for the product inside in case it is smashed or dropped.That leads me to one of my points today, that containers are made for the benefit of the maker, not the consumer. In fact, most things about the products we buy are customized for the manufacturer's welfare- to ship more easily, to protect against liability, to make the product look larger or better, to make it seem to weigh more and on and on. First the maker satisfies self, and then thinks about the buyer.

And what about the words on the product labeling? Some times I am mystified at them. Yesterday I saw a small container of "banana pudding ice cream" in a local grocery store. I rarely buy ice cream in groceries but the sound of that flavor was too interesting to resist (I bought it and it's tasty). Just below mid center of the ice cream label was this statement, "Natural Flavors Added". Huh? What does that mean? It implies that the whole product is not natural, but a little natural ingredients are added. that is impossible with ice cream. Surely enough I read the ingredients...cream,. milk, egg yolks, banana puree, sugar....They all seem natural to me. So what does the label mean? Is it a warning? Is it a requirement for the manufacturer to say that? Did they make amistake and mean "Some Artificial Flavors Added"?

On of the funniest label warnings I once read was on a bottle of Jane's baby lotion. In bold print it said "Keep away from Children". Haha Good luck selling that to babies with that kind of warning. Every hairdryer sold today warns not to use it in the shower. If you get a bottle of sleeping pills from your bathroom it probably says "May Cause Drowsiness" on the label. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh How stupid do they think we are?

I say, put the product in an easy to open and close paper bag and don't print anything except the name, ingredients and price. The rest I can figure out on my own. Oh, by the way...I am obliged to warn you that "This E mail may deaden the brain".