Printed packaging – not a commodity

How entrenched I’ve become in the package printing market was highlighted yesterday, when I found myself recording a UK TV ad for Discovery Mexican Foods fajita kits, which you can watch below.

 

It features animated flexible and carton packaging, so naturally I was quietly excited. Mrs Pittman, however, was dismayed to find me recording a video of the advert on my phone, especially given the nuisance I’ve become on shopping trips of late.

 

The voiceover describes the packaging as, ‘the perfect way to wrap up the ingredients’, adding: ‘It’s not any old kit, it’s the perfect fajita kit.’

 

 

I was speaking to a contact in North America not long ago and they implied that packaging has become commoditized, costing the industry as its central role in the delivery of almost all goods is being undervalued.

 

Visit a store in most of Europe, the US, Australia, Asia or the Middle East, and there will only be a handful of products that won’t use packaging to deliver goods to the consumer in the optimum quality.

 

My contact used pharmaceuticals as a prime example of a product area that consumers would struggle to gain access to be it not for packaging, whether blister packs or cartons.

 

They said it was up to the industry to get the value restored, and went so far as to suggest that a global day of action, where no converting or printing of packaging takes place, could be a way to make those undervaluing packaging’s role in daily life take notice.

 

While I’d not go so far as to advocate a day of action, I agree that the whole printed packaging market, from material suppliers to converters, has a role to play in making sure that the value of packaging is recognized by all, around the world.

 

Too frequently you’ll hear bad news stories about the volume of packaging being produced, sold and thrown away. In the UK at Easter, you’ll hear much of the same comment and distain each year through the national press towards the packaging of chocolate eggs given as gifts at this time.

 

Complaints are also made about the use of both organic and inorganic materials to produce packaging, whether virgin fiber for cartons or polypropylene for flexibles.

 

Packaging is part of the wider supply chain for food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and more, and its presence can be viewed as a compromise situation. Yes, it can be resource-heavy but without it food waste levels would be much higher, as an example.

 

It is up to everyone involved in the supply chain to do more to talk up the positives and benefits, and make sure the true value of packaging is recognized by all and it is held in the regard it deserves.