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In the average half-hour trip to the supermarket, 30,000 products vie for the shopper's attention, and those that get noticed have only a sixth of a second to make their sales pitch. Today's marketers know they have to trigger desire instantly - and they do so, visually, by creating packages that make exactly the right promises.
Packages understand you better than you understand packages, and The Total Package tells why. It is a delightful and erudite exploration of the way modern packages play on our deepest fears and desires to sell us germ-killing soap or high-profile vodka. Ranging from ancient Mesopotamia to Madison Avenue, from Aunt Jemima to Madonna, from Marlboros to McDonald's,Thomas Hine surveys packaging throughout history, exploring how advances in bottles, cans, and boxes have remade products, stores, and modern life.
A package is a protector, a friend, and, ultimately, a piece of trash. Packages as small as a pillbox or as large as Walt Disney World play on the emotions, even as they promise predictable satisfactions. With an eye for the profound and the absurd, The Total Package describes the exploits of the oatmeal barons, medicine hucksters, psychologists, engineers, and marketing wizards who have made the art of packaging one of America's dominant contributions to world culture.
- The Total Package is a fascinating look at the unexpected meanings hidden in the most familiar boxes, bottles, cans, and tubes found in every home. Thomas Hine decodes their secret language in a lively narrative revealing the way we sell our products and ourselves, and changing forever the way we see our increasingly packaged world.
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Previews available in: English
Showing 3 featured editions. View all 3 editions?
Edition | Availability |
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1
The Total Package: The Evolution and Secret Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Tubes
February 2001, Diane Pub Co
Hardcover
in English
0788195913 9780788195914
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2
The Total Package: The Secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Other Persuasive Containers
August 25, 1997, Back Bay Books
Paperback
in English
0316365467 9780316365468
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3
The total package: the evolution and secret meanings of boxes, bottles, cans, and tubes
1995, Little, Brown
in English
- 1st ed.
0316364800 9780316364805
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-277) and index.
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Scriblio MARC recordmarc_cca MARC record
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marc_openlibraries_sanfranciscopubliclibrary MARC record
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Feedback?July 17, 2024 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
December 13, 2019 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
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