Hines summary
Hines Essay Summary
In “What’s in a Package,” Thomas Hine presents a series of claims that inform the reader as to why manufacturers package products the way they do. His first paragraphs encourage readers to imagine themselves pushing a shopping cart, and state that within “the thirty minutes you spend on an average trip to the supermarket, about thirty thousand different products vie to win your attention.” He breaks it down further to help the readers understand: thirty thousand products in thirty minutes is equal to one thousand per minute. Thomas Hine explores the active relationship between a package and its meaningful cycle in society as we know it.
Hines proceeds on to compare a supermarket with a traditional marketplace, he articulates his point based on the personal experience one has or the lack of the experience entirely. Constantly as buyers being bombarded with packaging advertisements catering to what is considered desirable. He then progresses on to express that modern retailing “replaces people with packages.” Suggesting that we as people are subject to a kind of hypnosis by packaging, which can be tied to attractiveness, emotional attachment, usefulness, popularity and all primary ingredients in our culture. Our cultural tolerance for consumerism has built up over the years, causing an intrusion of millions of products and in turn consumers are afflicted with sensory overload. Packaging and labels have been given an overwhelming amount of power and it performs a series of desperate tasks. It protects its contents from contamination and spoilage. It makes it easier to transport and store goods. It provides uniform measuring of contents. It makes advertising meaningful and large scale distribution possible. Packages serves as both symbols of their content and of a way of life.
Hines also moves on to describe how packaging stimulates the desire for consumers to buy. Buying has become an obsession in modern culture. Packaging itself has a
In “What’s in a Package,” Thomas Hine presents a series of claims that inform the reader as to why manufacturers package products the way they do. His first paragraphs encourage readers to imagine themselves pushing a shopping cart, and state that within “the thirty minutes you spend on an average trip to the supermarket, about thirty thousand different products vie to win your attention.” He breaks it down further to help the readers understand: thirty thousand products in thirty minutes is equal to one thousand per minute. Thomas Hine explores the active relationship between a package and its meaningful cycle in society as we know it.
Hines proceeds on to compare a supermarket with a traditional marketplace, he articulates his point based on the personal experience one has or the lack of the experience entirely. Constantly as buyers being bombarded with packaging advertisements catering to what is considered desirable. He then progresses on to express that modern retailing “replaces people with packages.” Suggesting that we as people are subject to a kind of hypnosis by packaging, which can be tied to attractiveness, emotional attachment, usefulness, popularity and all primary ingredients in our culture. Our cultural tolerance for consumerism has built up over the years, causing an intrusion of millions of products and in turn consumers are afflicted with sensory overload. Packaging and labels have been given an overwhelming amount of power and it performs a series of desperate tasks. It protects its contents from contamination and spoilage. It makes it easier to transport and store goods. It provides uniform measuring of contents. It makes advertising meaningful and large scale distribution possible. Packages serves as both symbols of their content and of a way of life.
Hines also moves on to describe how packaging stimulates the desire for consumers to buy. Buying has become an obsession in modern culture. Packaging itself has a