These Trickster Packaging Designs Were Filled With Broken Promises

7. We Feel Teased

One very horrible type of food marketing dishonesty is the instance of the deceptive cake bar packaging. The cover clearly shows a mouthwatering picture of a cake bar loaded with mixed berry jelly, which instantly makes one want a moist, sweet delicacy. But the reality shows a rather different picture from this promise: consumers find a simple cake bar devoid of the claimed filling. This disparity marks a basic transgression of customer confidence, not alone a cause of disappointment. The comparison to a jelly-less doughnut aptly illustrates the degree of this dishonesty since both situations involve products where the filling is not only an improvement but a basic component of the promised experience. In the food business, where product satisfaction is directly related to satisfying particular taste expectations, this kind of deceptive packaging is especially troublesome. The manufacturer's choice to employ images implying a filling that doesn't exist highlights a worrying trend in food marketing whereby visual attractiveness takes front stage over product authenticity.