Opinion: Another Horrible Product Packaging Idea

Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 7:53 pm

Example of Bad Product Packaging

Bad Product Packaging From The Older Generation

Great Product - Lousy Packaging

Next time your Grandpa tells you about how much better things were in the olden days, ask him to explain the logic behind a brick-sized, foil package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I will bet this inferior packaging has been around since long before your grandfather ate his first bagel. Philadelphia Cream Cheese does offer more convenient storage tubs for bagel spreading, but their higher price weighs heavily against the convenience. The wisdom behind squeezing a brick of mushy, creamy cheese into a paper thin, foil package is not much better than those TV dinner sauce and gravy packages we reviewed last month. Now, I realize cream cheese is not just for bagels; it is commonly used in baking and cooking recipes. Still, why not put it in a re-sealable box, so it can be easily sliced into the precise portions you need with no mess or hassle? Wouldn’t this be better than forcing you to scrape and lick the remaining portions from your fingers and foil? Even if your intention is to throw the entire brick of cream cheese into a pot of steaming hot, mashed potatoes, why should you have to worry about peeling it out of the foil and getting its mushy contents on your hands or leaving some of it stuck behind on the foil? I have nothing against the Philadelphia Cream Cheese folks. They make a very tasty product, but why force consumers to cuss and complain so early in the morning? A groggy man or woman ought to be able to enjoy a bagel in the morning without suffering the undue stress caused by its preparation. It’s almost as bad as peeling, thinly sliced, greasy bacon apart from a plastic package. Are you listening Grandpa? Bacon packaging is just another example of a poor idea from the generation who insists on telling us how much better things were in their day. These latest two product packaging examples serve to remind us that people really haven’t gotten any more stupid after all these years – and that is comforting news.