There is an ultimate violator. It’s the one everybody reads, the one everybody interacts with, touches at times and even goes so far as to try and take it off the pack. It’s usually the make or brake element when it comes to a sale. It’s not “NEW!” or “NOW WITH ADDED CALCIUM,” it’s the price tag.
Talk about breaking up an architecture, from package to package, there’s just no way to control where this tag will wind up. Over the product name? A benefit? Sometimes the label covers up a letter or two, turning Thumann’s hot dogs into humann’s hot dogs and Mach 3 Turbo into Tubo. This can’t be the communication they’re looking to promote.
What can be done? The advent of smart phone scanner apps is a start. Now, consumers can scan bar codes or QR-codes for pricing and information. This negates the need for an actual tag – but I suspect they will remain for a while.
Perhaps we’ll see some future package design that includes a target for the trigger-happy clerk with a price gun.