Some time back, Kroger decided to “dress up” the packaging of their private label sour cream. Instead of plain white containers, they decided that they were going to show a photo of the product in use.
And that is when they started confusing me.
Take a look at the container above. Is the sour cream plain, low fat plain, onion flavored, chive flavored, garlic flavored, with bacon bits included? I don’t know. But, when I see rows of sour cream all lined up with photos of serving suggestions next to another row of plain white sour cream containers with name brands, I know what I want.
I reach for the Daisy sour cream in the plain white container. It probably costs more, but I don’t have the time to scrutinize the label to verify if indeed the sour cream is really, really just plain sour cream only to find I had picked up a flavored variety when I got home.
Plain white container says plain white sour cream.
Sometimes too much design is not the appropriate design. Sometimes more just confuses what should be a “blink” decision.
Know your audience. It’s always about them, not you.
