Logan thought this bonus pack of Colgate contained two equally-sized tubes of toothpaste. After all, the boxes are exactly the same size. Yet when he opened the bonus box, he found a smaller box containing a mini tube of toothpaste.
Logan writes:
I bought some toothpaste last night as my wife an I had been surviving on tiny, dentist-issued travel tubes for the past couple weeks. We’re lazy, so to save ourselves the trip after the next big tube was gone, I decided to buy a double pack of toothpaste. Thinking that the marginal savings of bundled toothpaste was the way to go, I grabbed a healthy sounding combo and was one may way. When I got home though, I was in for a big surprise. When I pulled the “Bonus” tube out of its box, it was actually in another, smaller box. Whaaaaat? Why the double boxing? Was it for packaging reasons? Or was it to hide the widespread reach and effectiveness of the the product shrink ray?
This isn’t the feared Grocery Shrink Ray. This is deception, pure and simple. The weasels running Colgate’s marketing team stuck to the law by printing the net weight on both boxes, but they clearly want consumers to assume that the boxes are the same size.
Way to waste an extra box, Colgate!
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@painfullyblunt: and are assuming that it was the same price as regular. That may or may nor be true.
I can gurantee it is absoulutly true. I have bought these packs before from multiple stores and the bonus is free. This part shouldn’t be in discussion and really should be put in the main post to provide a more accurate picture. Also @Tmoney02:
As for your hypothetical situation if you were really calculating out the price per oz of toothpaste, you would have read the box! You cant miss the 4 oz. Its also on top of the package making it harder to read the original box, but that much easier to read the bonus box.
Deceptive? Not by a long shot. Just how would you expect them to bundle a smaller tube with a larger one? It was clearly labeled and obviously was a lot easier to package two boxes of the same size together instead of trying to have one large and one small box wrapped together.
I buy these all the time at Target. Never confused; there is clearly a weight imbalance between the two halves of this combo-pack and the wording is easily understood by anyone in which English is their “first” language.
Regarding the Advanced Clean….this formula contains an anti-bacterial (triclosan) that is supposed to last 12 hours. Yup, there’s a difference.
@bohemian: That’s what I was thinking. The main reason for packaging this way..easier to pack and stack. Catching a few consumers who were in too much of a hurry to read the package and thinking it was a 2-for-1 is merely an added bonus but not really the main intention.
This furthers our need to make manufacturers responsible for their contribution to the waste stream.
Not only do deceptive practices like this (as well as the all too prevalent practice of decreasing product size while retaining the same packaging size as an underhanded form of price increases) increase the amount of garbage we need to get rid of, but it also increases waste ALL along the product lifecycle.. ranging from using more crude oil for increased plastic packaging, more wood for paper boxes, more oil to transport these products (that have less effective product content), more gasoline for trips to the store for products that run out sooner than before, more gasoline for garbage trucks to dispose of the waste… can you see the downward spiral we have gotten to?
Increasing oil prices => increase production costs for manufacturers => decrease product content sizes (increasing waste:product content ratio) => uses more oil in manufacture for the same amount of good => increase demand for oil
All we need to do is stop buying these products, let the manufacturers know the long term effect of their actions… who’s with me?
More analysis and information here: [armchaireconomics.wordpress.com]
If only that 4oz tube was a 3oz tube, would be perfect for flying without having to check luggage. Then they could market it as a travel tube.
It’s called read the damn package.
Asthetically, two boxes of the same size look better than a large and a tiny box wrapped together. Moreover, they two same-sized boxes make packing and shipping easier.
This is not deception. This is consumer laziness.
It has the net weight on the outside of the box. If you can’t be bothered to read that then there is no one to blame but yourself.
I don’t see the issue. But I also don’t just blindly grab crap off the shelf under normal conditions. We’d all be such better consumers if we just learned to fscking READ. If this happened to me (for being in a hurry, or some other reason that’s ultimately my own stupid fault), I’d be too embarrassed to post it on the Consumerist.
Maybe I am missing something but the image at the start of this article shows only ONE actual tube of toothpaste. If there was a bonus included in that one box, would there not be TWO tubes (one regular and one the bonus)???
Need to be careful with the marketing words theses days.
Double pack means you are getting 2 of the same item in a bundle. Bonus pack is you buy one item, get a bonus item and seee description carefully of what you are getting.
Boo hoo.
This isn’t a deception — unless you count getting something for free deceptive.
The reason its like that is that the packaging is a “bonus”. If you look at the UPC codes on the box with bonus and compare it to a regular, single 7.8oz tube, they are the same.
The smaller box is placed in the larger box to keep the packaging square so that it will sit on the shelf properly, and so that when the promotion runs out, the retailer can rotate in fresh stock without the bonus tube.
Yeah it’s kinda printed right on the packaging. Agreed it’s lameish, but it’s also fairly clear if you’re paying attention (which any good shopper should do).
The size of the product (4oz) is printed on the front of the box in two different places, and that’s deceptive?
What gets me is the fact that they package one box inside a bigger box. This is why we’re cutting down trees?
I’m not sure what the problem is. I read the post and I don’t see what the problem is. He got what it says on the box…what is the problem?
@ArmchairEconomist: I have absolutely no idea what you are rambling on about. And I don’t have any intention of going to your blog and reading it.
What is so deceptive about the packaging. It in no way misrepresented the contents. People need to learn to read the packaging.
Like a bunch of other people said. Its on the damn box. This shouldn’t be a huge deal, customer just misread it
I’ll chime in.
I would have looked at the packaging and thought it was 2 tubes of the same size. I might have picked up on the 4 oz label, but maybe not. I too would have felt mislead if I missed it.
I’m more upset that there was a cardboard box inside a cardboard box… why double box it?
Wasteful.
I realize that there was making on the package letting the buyer know that the second tube was four ounces, and I am sure that making the boxes the same makes shipping easier; however, you should be able to understand how a person can think that they have been deceived. If you are in somewhat of a hurry and you see two boxes together, that are the same size at a great price, then you may just grab it and run. Especially if you just ran in for something small, like the toothpaste.
The bonus pack wasn’t even the same kind of toothpaste, why in God’s name would you assume it’s a twin-pack? It’s as undeceptive as it could be without taking deliberate measures to avoid confusing idiots.
@GeoffinAround: My husband works for GSK. Just by the Aqua Fresh Sensitive is the same exact thing as Sensodine and is cheaper.
I’m going to have to say nothing seems deceptive about that. The total oz is listed and the amount for the smaller is listed. I think this is just where the boxes are the same size because of shipping. It’s easier to ship everything if the boxes are a uniform size instead of the smaller tub being in a smaller box.
As consumers we need to take some responsibilities in actually looking at what we are buying and no just assuming things. It’s clearly labeled…
Beyond that the box is clearly labeled not once, but twice, I believe that the reason for the box being the same size is plain logistics and packaging, because logistics and packaging is about having the less wasted space possible (wasted space could lead to product moving inside of the cartons, which could lead to damaged boxes that people wouldn’t buy), if they’d used smaller box for the smaller tube it would have been a little more difficult to fill the cartons where they transport them without creating gaps between them.
I just discovered that Folgers Gourmet Supreme Coffee, which used to come in a 34.5-ounce can (2 lb. 2.5 oz.) now is packaged in a 27.8-ounce can (1 lb. 11 oz.). We consumers were not informed by Folgers of this. I only discovered it accidentally because I have one of their old containers. As a consumer, I feel betrayed. I called Folgers and they told me they “discontinued” that size. Folgers didn’t even own up to what they did — which was deceive the consumer. Folgers not only made the packaging smaller; they also increased the price! I call that double deception.