In this blog post, we look at how excessive packaging, which is considered consumer deception, can take on a different meaning through historical examples and positive uses in everyday life.
While shopping for fruit at the supermarket the other day, a box of pears caught my eye. The box was decorated with a picture of large, delicious-looking pears and photos of my favorite celebrities enjoying them. The picture made me impulsively buy the pears. However, the first reason I bought them was because I liked the size of the box. The price was reasonable, the quality was good, and the box was full of pears, so I thought it was a great bargain. However, when I got home and opened the box, I was very disappointed. Almost half of the box was filled with preservatives, styrofoam, and paper towels to prevent the pears from rotting. Not only that, but when I actually ate the apples, the taste, size, and quality were so different from the photo that I felt it was excessive packaging. Based on this example, I think that excessive packaging may initially attract the attention and interest of consumers, but ultimately lead to disappointment and cause them to turn away. This is just one example of excessive packaging in the narrow sense of the term. However, when looking at excessive packaging in a broader sense, it is possible to approach it from a different perspective.
First, let us consider the advantages of hidden excessive packaging in a broad sense from a historical perspective. We can see the advantages of hidden excessive packaging in part of the war diary of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, one of the most respected figures in Korean history. During the Imjin War, General Yi Sun-sin defeated the Japanese navy, which had 500 ships. It was midnight and very dark, and it was impossible to see even an inch in front of him, but General Yi Sun-sin gathered the women of the village in a quiet place by the sea, placed a large torch in the center, and had them dance in a circle. The reason for this was that the Joseon navy had only 12 ships, so they needed to create the illusion of a larger force in order to face the Japanese navy, which had over 500 warships. In fact, the Japanese navy saw many people dancing in a large circle around the torches in the middle of the night. The Japanese command received false information that the Joseon navy was vastly outnumbered and could not attack the Joseon navy recklessly. Admiral Yi Sun-sin succeeded in misleading the Japanese navy through his hidden exaggeration.
In addition, Admiral Yi Sun-sin also attacked the Japanese navy with an interesting hidden exaggeration during the Imjin War at Yudal Mountain in Mokpo. He stacked straw and sandbags filled with straw and brushwood to look like rice bags, and the Japanese navy thought they were real rice bags. The Japanese army was deceived by Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s exaggerated packaging and mistakenly believed that if Joseon had stockpiled so much military provisions, the Joseon navy must be very powerful. Admiral Yi Sun-sin made a great contribution to Joseon’s victory in the Imjin War by confusing the Japanese army through various methods of exaggerated packaging.
Of course, it may be unreasonable to simply apply Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s example to the advantages of exaggerated packaging from the perspective of modern companies and consumers. However, Admiral Yi Sun-sin made good use of the advantages of exaggerated packaging to confuse the Japanese army, which led to the Japanese army receiving false information. It is significant that he achieved his original goal of defending his country by taking advantage of the advantages of exaggerated packaging.
This happened during World War II. Hitler of Germany wanted to start a major war, but he was worried because he did not know the exact military strength of the United States. While spying on the military strength of the United States, the German side boarded a large warship anchored by the US military and found that the wheelhouse was covered with dust. This led the Germans to conclude that although the US military had excellent equipment, their morale was low, and Hitler immediately ordered the attack. Compared to General Yi Sun-sin, who won the war by taking advantage of exaggeration, the US can be said to have underestimated its own true capabilities and lost the war. General Yi Sun-sin defeated the Japanese army with a small force by exaggerating his capabilities, but the US military, despite having excellent equipment, failed to exaggerate their capabilities and were underestimated for their complacency, which led to their defeat in World War II. It is unfortunate that the US failed to apply the concept of exaggeration.
When reading the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, there are only about 10 relatively short references to Dae Jang Geum, which records the development of Korean food culture. The fact that such a short story was used to produce the epic drama Dae Jang Geum is a good example of overhyping. If the drama had been made based solely on the records of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty without exaggeration, Dae Jang Geum would not exist as the epic drama that led the Korean Wave we enjoy today and spread Korean food culture to the world.
Exaggeration was also used in the drama “Dae Jang Geum,” which is about the founding of Goryeo. Although there are few historical records about Dae Jang Geum, writer Shin Bong-seung used historical records as a basis and added his imagination and fiction to create an exciting story full of thrills and suspense. I think he made good use of the advantages of exaggeration in a meaningful way that is very beneficial for the education of growing children.
In the original Roman works, there is little content related to William Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “King Lear,” and “Macbeth,” as well as his later romantic works. I believe that Shakespeare used exaggeration, such as adding flesh to the characters and adding new characters, based on the small amount of material in the Roman originals, to make the works more realistic, passionate, and rich in content.
A merchant named A on the street making cotton candy larger than people’s heads with a small spoonful of sugar can also be considered exaggeration in a broad sense. I believe that the examples presented in this paper are good examples of the advantages of exaggeration in a broad sense.
Suppose there is a product called A. Generally, customers are not familiar with manuals for complex products. In such cases, even if the packaging becomes larger by including miniature dolls or small robots to help customers easily access the product and understand the complicated usage process, or by adding a set of illustrations that explain how to use the product in an easy-to-understand manner, I think this is a good-intentioned use of hidden overpackaging that takes advantage of its advantages for the convenience of customers.
Of course, consumers may be somewhat disappointed by overpackaging. However, in the case of the box of apples, there may be more packaging than apples in the large box, and the actual amount of apples may be small. However, I think consumers should understand that packaging is also meant to protect the quality of the product. I also wonder if I have been trying to overpackage myself by accumulating qualifications since elementary school. People who try to look prettier with makeup, people who try to make their hair look better with mousse, and people who exaggerate their stories when talking are all overpackaging themselves. Everyone wants to overpackage themselves to look better to others. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look good to others, and it is not a bad thing to use the positive aspects of this hidden exaggeration to show your strengths to society. However, even if the advantages of exaggeration are the same, I believe that the evaluation of the advantages of exaggeration that can clearly appeal to your own strengths or the unique value of your company should be based on different criteria.
