August 20th, 2006
Sunday funnies - ironic packaging
A while back, Chris Pirillo posted a rant about plastic packages that put your extremities at risk. You know - the kind of welded plastic package that inevitably seems to cause loss of blood when you try to get it opened. A number of people chimed in about their unhappiness with these hazards including my Tablet PC buddy Warner Crocker. He mentioned a device that he saw on an infomercial that promised to open these packages safely and easily.
I did a little searching (almost wrote Googling but you know they don’t want us to do that anymore right?) and found the Pyranna. I ordered one on the spot (only $12.95) and it arrived yesterday. As you can see from the photo, it is packed in exactly the kind of packaging it was designed to open. At first, I was amused at the irony of it all. Then I read the line: "Safely and easily opens packages like this one".
I think there was a real opportunity missed here. It would have been far more effective to have packed the Pyranna in almost the same way but with an easy and safe way to open the plastic once the joke was played. Or, they could have included a cheap trinket (stickers or something else both silly and potentially viral) in a welded package that could have been the first Pyranna victim.
My kids and I are still chuckling over this one. I’m almost inclined to leave the package unopened and hang it on my office wall.
Marc Orchant has been building, testing, and sometimes breaking hardware and software for 25 years. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
