Soap Box Blog: Is the customer always right, and does that mean brands should listen?

Personally, I’d like to imagine it was all a big mistake. Some ham-fisted designer accidentally pressed ‘delete river’ at the last minute and the whole organisation was instructed to refer to the boob as ‘tidying up clutter’ to spare any blushes. Regardless, the furore is a good example of how consumer pressure, and perhaps a sprinkling of tabloid vociferousness, can have the necessary influence to strong-arm ostensibly powerful organisations into a hasty retreat on such matters.

We could start to see more of this kind of thing in the packaging sector, too. In the latest issue of Packaging News, out today, Walter Lewis of packaging thinktank Faraday argues that social networking has the power to shape the future of design and the packaging industry. His interesting column got me thinking.

Earlier this year, consumer pressure forced Tropicana into a complete, and no doubt expensive, U-turn on the design of its juice cartons in the US. And, in August, it was reported Heinz was considering tweaking its lightweighted plastic ketchup bottle after sauce fans complained it wasn’t squeezy enough. Then there was the stink kicked up around the repackaging of Sherbet Fountain in a plastic tube when aficionados realised they’d rather be picking fizzy lumps of damp paper out of their teeth than handling a convenient, resealable pack. Manufacturer Tangerine Confectionery stuck to its guns on that one and plumped for keeping the new, user-friendly design over the old, frustratingly impractical, one, but you can’t imagine it was an easy decision.

We live in a cross-media, interactive society where the public is increasingly called on to contribute to and influence everything from ticker tapes on rolling news channels to decisions on who is going to be singing us our next turgid Christmas number one. Instances of design backtracks will no doubt rise as more brands and retailers turn to social networking to glean consumer insight – feedback websites such as Asda’s Your Asda and Starbucks’ MyStarbucksIdea.com are already live and inviting people to ‘share’ and comment on products.

The public clearly wants to have its say. As with the Tube-Thames debacle, sometimes it may have a point. But equally, as could be said of Sherbet Fountain, the public’s views might be reactionary, nostalgic and regressive. So when it comes to design and innovation in packaging, where should the line be drawn? The internet and social networking will no doubt be invaluable as a tool for research, but should brands always listen to the consumer? Is, as the old adage goes, the customer always right, or should the professionals be left to get on with what they’re paid to do?

David Elliott is production editor of Packaging News

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