When Packaging Goes Viral

Sometimes a goofy 40-second video can be surprisingly profound. On Friday afternoon, like tens of thousands of others, I was treated to an oddly hilarious viral video, posted to Twitter by a 22-year-old man from Virginia, who bluntly pointed out how seemingly every health and beauty product targeted toward men is packaged in a dark color.

BuzzFeed reports that Lucky Turner (Twitter user @estLucky) popped into the store to pick up a hair product when he noticed the packaging oddity.

In the age of social media, Turner decided to share his observation with the masses. He filmed a 43 second video, tweeted it out, and in the week since, it’s received more than 75,000 likes and 52,000 retweets.

I would call this a video I can’t explain, but I can. #masculinitysofragile pic.twitter.com/TyLsa7wan3

— mel. 💰 (@MoneybagMonroe) December 18, 2016

Packaging Perspective: While Turner's video is hilarious, it does bring up a very good point surrounding the reliance brands place on color cues. Health and beauty shelves are crowded with products vying for attention and brands only have a few precious seconds to trigger a purchasing decision.

If all of these men's products are packaged in the same color, how can one brand stand out against its competition? Instead of blending in with this dark color trend, it would be refreshing to see a brand try a different packaging tactic that would be instantly eye-catching against the dark gray, blue and black packaging in the health and beauty aisle.

With so many innovations in foiling, embossing and windowing, there are multiple ways converters can assist a brand in developing a new type of visual appeal for its products that reaches beyond color.