The Total Package: The Secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Other Persuasive Containers [Paperback]

Thomas Hine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 1997

Today's manufacturers have to create instant desire for their product, and this book shows how they play with people's minds in an attempt to sell you another bar of soap or a box of cereal.

Product Details

• Paperback: 289 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (August 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316365467
• ISBN-13: 978-0316365468
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Packaging changes everything, February 14, 2000

By 

Adam F. Jewell (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Total Package: The Secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Other Persuasive Containers (Paperback)

New industries, activities, and economies have come about because of innovations in the packaging industry. Self service shopping, product standardization and labeling, convenience foods, brand building and marketing have all been greatly affected by innovations in this industry. Whether through the use of MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat used by the military) or the stuff your Big Mac is wrapped in at McDonalds, packaging has both changed our lifestyles and helped us adapt to a changing world. As a history of the industry and the changes it has brought about over the years, this is a good book. There is not much in the way of the psycology of packaging as indicated in the title, so if you are looking for that skip this book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You buy, therefore you must read this book., April 10, 2005

By 

T. Lenon (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Total Package: The Secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Other Persuasive Containers (Paperback)

My community college graphic design students read this book for a class, so I've read it six or seven times now. Every year I look forward to it. It is a wonderful way to get my (mostly) American students to think about their role in an economy they've rarely questioned. They learn about how products have been adorned and contained over the centuries and they also learn why great cities thrived with the advancements in packaging, why suburbs keep growing and why cars and groceries are an intertwined pair.

There plenty of insights here for the consumer who wonders why there are so many kinds of toothpaste and why there will always be a battle between Coke and Pepsi. You eat a lot of tuna? Did you know it was canned for the first time because a cannery ran out of sardines? Did you know that canning itself was developed for Napoleon's military campaigns? You know yellow makes products look cheap? You do, but you didn't know you did.

For designers it is an indispensible history that will help you locate your place in the world of business and the American economy.Thomas Hine discusses how research dominates design and how brand managers can wipe out your precious work with a single "Natural!" violator.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packaging Is What We Are, January 2, 2005

By 

Astrid - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Total Package: The Secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Other Persuasive Containers (Paperback)

I fell in love with Thomas Hine's The Total Package: The Secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Other Persuasive Container from page 1 for this book pulls you into a world that on the one hand is so familiar to you, but on the other hand yet also so unknown, namely the world of package - design and the world of stores.

In his book, Mr. Hine writes about the development of things that I had never even given a thought like the invention of the shopping cart and how it should not take up too much space or the design of the grocery store as a maze, but the book also tells so much more like what colors on the packages say about the products and so on. Mr. Hine even argues that "packaging is what we are" for "packaging mirrors its expected customers, and thus it provides an unfamiliar and provocative perspective about who we are and what we want."

Well, I consider this book to be a true eye-opener and I experience just walking down the aisles in a store as a truly unique experience now for I came to realize that there is a whole theory behind everything I see around me or every aspect of the store.