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ARE YOU OVER-PACKAGED?
Had enough of wrestling with reams of tissue paper, overly clever boxes and impossible-to-open CDs? You're not alone.

Text: NICOLAS BÉRUBÉ

If you had told San Diego Padres pitcher Adam Eaton that he would sit out an important game because of the wrapping around a videodisc, he would have laughed in your face. But that’s exactly what happened last May. Eaton accidentally jabbed himself in the abdomen with a paring knife while trying to open a stubborn, over-packaged DVD. The result: two stitches to close the wound and a game in the loss column for the Padres.

It isn’t often that packaging is headline news, but it’s becoming increasingly more noticeable. That bottle of Tabasco sauce at the corner store now comes in a cardboard box bearing a picture of… a bottle of Tabasco sauce. OPENING AN ITEM FROM A BIG-BOX STORE IS LIKE UNWRAPPING A MODERN-DAY MUMMY: you’re left with a mess of paper, plastic, Styrofoam and cardboard all over the floor. It’s the same with department stores, where simply buying a shirt involves reams of tissue paper, coloured ribbon and a decorative bag. And what about fine chocolates? First, they’re individually wrapped in silver paper, placed in a box, which is shrink-wrapped in plastic, and then adorned with ribbons like a box of precious gems.

IN AN ERA OF BRANDING, PACKAGING DOES MORE THAN MERELY PROTECT WHAT’S INSIDE: IT HAS TO IMPART SOUL. "Packaging is the company’s calling card," says Stafford Cliff, a package designer in London. "It must seduce the customer and also project the manufacturer’s image and personality – like a silent salesperson."

Not surprising, then, that THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY CREATIVE IN ITS EFFORTS TO BOTH SURPRISE AND AWAKEN THE DORMANT CONSUMER IN ALL OF US. "Packaging is a cultural phenomenon," writes Thomas Hine, a New York Times journalist and author of The Total Package, a book about the history of packaging. "It’s different from society to society. In Europe, for example, tomato paste is sold in tubes. It didn’t catch on in the United States. Americans thought it looked too much like a tube of toothpaste."

The look of a package also reflects the era. In the 1980s, perfume makers wanted bottles to evoke power and status. So designers drew tall, wide containers that resembled skyscrapers. Now the trend is toward well-being, reducing stress – and avoiding excess. So fragrance bottles are sold in reusable, recyclable plastic boxes. "These days, package designers who don’t consider the environmental impact of their designs shouldn’t even be allowed to work," says Karim Rashid, a New York-based Canadian designer who recently created the reusable packaging for Issey Miyake perfumes. "If the clients I see aren’t concerned about this aspect, it’s my job to get them to rethink what they’re doing," adds the internationally acclaimed designer, whose claim to fame was reshaping the wastepaper basket.

The latest thinking in packaging is that less is more. At the Art Center College of Design in California, STUDENTS AT THE ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN IN CALIFORNIA TAKE COURSES IN "UNPACKAGING" – LEARNING TO SIMPLIFY AND USE MORE RECYCLED MATERIALS. "If you notice the package, it’s over-packaged," says Primo Angeli, founder of Primo Angeli Studios, one of the largest design firms in San Francisco. "The best packages are those that are so true to the product that consumers don’t even notice them."

Package designers have become so adept at making their work "invisible" that that each Canadian unwraps an average of 165 kilos of packaging per year – often without even thinking about it. In 1997, companies spent $7.3-billion on packaging alone, a figure that keeps rising. According to the Recycling Council of Ontario, half of the solid waste in Canada consists of packaging materials.

But more and more, consumers are voting with their wallets. "Today, a lot of people will avoid buying products that they think are over-packaged," notes Stafford Cliff. One ice cream company learned this the hard way when it introduced single servings of its product attractively arranged on a plastic tray. Consumers didn’t buy it. They felt they were paying for the packaging. "Packaging is everything," says Cliff, knowingly.

Contrary to what marketing psychologists might say, consumers are making the distinction between an item and its packaging – so companies are looking for new ways to package their products. Suddenly, minimalism is a selling point. Microsoft, for example, lightened the packaging for its Office 2001 for Macintosh by 90 percent. Gone are the days of bulky boxes: the software is now sold in a recycled plastic shell that can be reused as a case to hold compact discs.

But how minimal can packaging really get? All companies, regardless of size, create a product’s "identity" through eye-catching packaging. And although the target of criticism, this is the essence of mass marketing. "Advanced societies could not function without packaging," says Thomas Hine. "The entire consumption chain is based on it."

ON PACKAGING...

KALLE LASN - Founder and Editor-in-chief, Adbusters, Vancouver
Best example of packaging A package made from food itself. Tara McHugh, a research food technologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, came up with it. It’s a membrane made from puréed fruits and vegetables that holds food.
Worst example of packaging I find 90 percent of the packaging in my supermarket offensive.
Thoughts on packaging in general Most foods are over-packaged. Environmental sustainability is simply not being taken into consideration.

CAMPBELL McDOUGALL - Founder, bruce, Vancouver
Best A T-shirt done by a Japanese company called Final Home. It’s vacuum-packed into a miniature square, like a little book. It’s beautiful. Some people buy two of them: one to open and wear and one to leave in its packaging.
Worst CD packaging has forever frustrated me. You need a sharp knife or some sort of tool to get into it and then you scratch the box.
In general In North America, packaging leaves a lot to be desired; in Japan, it’s amazing; and in Europe, it’s somewhere in between.

KARIM RASHID - President, Karim Rashid Design Inc., New York
Best In Siberia, they buy the milk in a large frozen form, carry it home and put it in a pot. They drink it as it melts – no packaging whatsoever.
Worst Huge boxes for immaterial things like software, music or any binary technology.
In general It’s becoming more sophisticated, more contemporary and more investigated. The packaging I created for Prada was an extension of the need for high performance, disposability and hygiene.

HAWKSLEY WORKMAN - Singer, writer, Toronto
Best I like little tin boxes or wine bottles, something that I can put pencils in later or make into little clocks to sell to tourists.
Worst Anything superfluous for things like batteries and disposable razors found on the last-minute "maybe you forgot something" rack at the check-out counter.
Thoughts on CD packaging I remember setting up the three-panel Bee Gees’ Greatest Hits jacket in front of me. Folded out, it featured glorious, full-colour photos of the three Gibb brothers, all satin and beards. You certainly couldn’t fit that many beards on one tiny CD cover.

DIANA CARR - Creative Director, Ryan & Deslauriers, Montreal
Best One of my current favourites is for Evian water in France. It has a curvy shape with a "waist" and a bright blue ring cap that you can clip onto a backpack or twirl on a finger. It’s useful, playful and impossible to put down.
Worst Those damn Dentyne packages with the paper cover, the plastic tray and foil sealer.
In general Lots of products are over-packaged and create an incredible amount of waste. Others are in packaging that’s easy to recycle or so well made that you want to use it again. Both can look really cool. But which one do you feel better about buying?