February 22nd 2006 / shared
Crazy Tasty, the Evils of Product Design
Yesterday afternoon, my wife, kids and I went to the local Wal-Mart super-center for our semi-regular, grocery shopping spree. Why we keep putting ourselves in this position is beyond the scope of this article, but just let me say this; shopping with two young boys in a crowded shopping center is just a little less fun than it may seem. The point and scope of this article is the evils of product packaging design. Specifically I want to discuss how a product could so easily lure me into an unwanted purchase based solely on the packaging.
Spam, not the annoying marketing ploys we so often find in our inboxes, but the pressed meat. What is it about Spam that makes my stomach turn, why does the mere mention of the compressed watery meat by-product make my gag reflex, stand up and kick me hard in the back of the throat? Could it be that the product is an unidentifiable, formed lump of quivering, pink gelatin, or it could it be the fact that it’s disgusting in every possible way to every possible sense, yes all five or six if you will.
What massive evil could possibly stop me dead in my tracks, force me to pick up the mystery meat, examine the can, consider purchasing then actually coerce me to fight the urge to call for help and just place the demon square in the basket?
The package design.
Yes that’s right, the spam-wich on the can looks crisp, fresh and succulent and the small, inviting, bright and enthusiastic catch-phrase on the front of the midnight blue and gold can says simply “Crazy Tasty!”
I don’t know about you, but I love, love the idea of eating food that’s just regular tasty, but crazy tasty? That’s got to be amazing, right?
Wrong!
Spam’s not crazy tasty at all and now it’s officially a short, fat liar.
This scares me, being a graphic designer I find it rather disturbing how much power I might have over others with my mad design skills.
I don’t think Spam is exceptionally well designed or marketed, but if a simple phrase like “Crazy Tasty” can actually get a guy—who should know better—to almost purchase the product that years earlier made him violently sick, then they’ve done something right.
I’d like to believe that our responsibility as designers is taken more seriously.
“Crazy Tasty, the Evils of Product Design” was written by James Mathias on February 22nd 2006
A writer, artist and outlaw. Living, working and playing in Tennessee. James writes TAO in a vain effort to teach, learn and share with the industry he loves.