I should stop this bad habit of mine.
This habit of buying products I have no real need for.
Case in point: this box of tea that just happens to be in my possession after today’s shift at Chapters.
http://www.smithtea.com/
The packaging really caught my eye. Especially the folder like string tie used to close the box! And the wonderful paperlike, vintage style quality of the box itself. It feels like something that would be used during the early 1900’s, on a boat like the Titanic.
Never mind the fact that I have no use for tea given the fact that my parents have our cupboard routinely stocked with various tea (Chinese tea and the standard Tetley brand).
Other things I have purchased in the past include greeting cards with nice boxes, various notebooks with nice covers, and even cd’s that have unique covers. I don’t have a use for many of them, I buy them solely because:
a) the packaging design is nice or
b) the item itself is nice
Someone stop me!
Like earlier classes mentioned, packaging pays an important role of fulfilling their functions (keeping food safe for example) as well as catching the eyes of consumers. These objects and the companies behind them has certainly succeeded in the area of catching MY eyes. Their prices are usually never low (nicely packaged items tend to be more ‘luxurious’ and costly as of result) which makes it even more astounding that I would pay for these things.
However, they do provide me with some sort of benefit, otherwise I would never have traded in hard earned cash for them in the first place. I believe that one reason why I buy them is because of the feeling they give me. The feeling that comes from the knowledge that I am lucky enough to be have the money to spend, how nicely designed products make me feel “cooler” than buying boring ‘economy’ products and the fact that after I’m done using the item (drinking the tea, sending out cards) I can use the boxes and packaging to store trinkets and display proudly on my desk.
Mr. Steven Smith describes it rather well in this video interview: “It’s packaging that stops you in the aisle, it’s packaging that, when you’re ten, fifteen, twenty feet away, and you look down the aisle you can see a different block of products. Once you’ve got them to look and if you can get them to grab the package, we’ve got you.”
He has definitely got me and now I’m off to try a cup of tea. Hopefully the taste will give me more reason to buy more of these delightful little boxes.