These Trickster Packaging Designs Were Filled With Broken Promises

9. Three Different Packing, All Different Sizes, Same Amount of Product

This illustration of different package sizes with same product quantities shows a sophisticated kind of marketing control. Though all carrying the same quantity of product, the maker displays three somewhat different sized packets, each generating different value perceptions through their physical proportions. Larger packaging naturally signals better value or more content, so this approach uses consumer psychology. The irony of the matter is that the maker seems to be using dishonest marketing techniques while yet trying to impart to consumers a lesson about appearances against truth. Apart from loss of resources, the varying container sizes provide needless uncertainty on the market. This strategy especially affects comparison shopping since consumers usually use package size as a rapid visual reference for product count. The extra expenses related to manufacturing several packaging sizes, expenses which are always passed on to the customer, highlight even more the cynical aspect of this marketing approach. Given the obviously profit-driven basis for such packaging decisions, the manufacturer's attempt to present this as a moral lesson about appearances seems especially hypocritical.