Packaging text classification
The words on the commodity package can be divided into two parts, one part is the decorative words on the outer surface of the commodity package, and the other part is the instructions on how to use this product correctly and safely, including brand, quantity, specification, composition, mark certificate, instructions for use, etc.
Promotion function of packaging text
Good packaging words can attract people's attention, explain advantages, arouse desire and finally take action. Therefore, as a packaging designer, we must strive to make the text concise, easy to understand and give consumers an eye-catching and unforgettable first impression. Different commodities have their own consumer groups, and reasonable text design should grasp consumers' psychology and form a special commodity culture. For example, the "Crystal Love" jelly captures the yearning for pure love, and the main consumers are young people and young people-as transparent and pure as crystal, thus occupying most of the jelly market. For another example, in the mid-1980 s, Britain and the United States launched anti-drug campaigns respectively, and the package said, "Children say no to drugs!" Slogans also played a good propaganda role at that time.
Packaging characters and world culture
Due to ethnic differences and different religious beliefs, the packaging text must take into account the history and culture of the main selling countries or regions, the use of the other language and the specific requirements and regulations of the international market for the description of the packaging text of export commodities. The written explanation should meet the requirements of foreign countries, and not only focus on domestic demand.
For example, Shaoxing drunk tofu, if translated into "saltedbeancurd", does not highlight the characteristics of the word "drunk side", but touches the taboo of using less salt abroad, which makes customers flinch. With the changes of the times, many numbers have extremely rich connotations and extensions. For example, many countries in Europe and America are afraid of the number'13'. In the 5th century A.D., the British began to get rid of the Roman rule, and made and passed an order that Roman numerals were not allowed to be used, which was generally not available where numbers were needed. In Africa, Nigeria, Botswana and other countries, odd numbers mean negative numbers and even numbers mean positive numbers. In Asia, influenced by China's auspicious concept of ancient solar numbers, Japan prefers odd numbers, and Japanese athletes also prefer to use odd numbers. Because the pronunciation of' 4' in Chinese is similar to that of' death', in some countries in the East, especially South Korea and Japan, many people regard 4 as a number indicating bad luck, which is no less than the western taboo 13. Japanese people remember the numbers 4, 6, 9 and 42 in their daily friendly gifts. Because there is a word related to the pronunciation of six in Japanese, which means "useless person", "second-rate" and "rogue". Japanese has the pronunciation of "bitterness", and they often associate 9 with bitterness; In Japanese, the pronunciation of "Sydney" is the same as that of the Japanese verb "death". In addition, countries have specific regulations on the use of words. For example, the Greek government officially announced that all products exported to Greece must clearly write the company name in Greek on the packaging.
Rigidity of packaging instructions
When the contents on the outer packaging of the goods are not enough to explain the goods, the instructions in the packaging container will be further elaborated. Broadly speaking, from the user's point of view, general goods should be explained. Now instructions have become an integral part of packaging, participating in the formation of goods and realizing their use value.
The instructions on the package of goods are to guide consumers to use the goods correctly and safely, including the correct name, English name and usage of the goods. In addition to complying with the specific regulations of the state on the instructions, the more thoughtful the content, the better. Recently, Britain selected "Top Ten Funny Product Descriptions", and its absurd wording made people laugh. The listed products are described as follows:
1. The bottle of sleeping pills produced by a pharmaceutical factory is marked "Taking this medicine will cause drowsiness".
2. A snack package with "Do not turn the box upside down" printed on the bottom;
3. Peanuts used by American Airlines on flights, the packaging bag says "Please open the bag for eating";
4. I saw a passage on the canned sardines: The raw material of this product is the first-class sardines produced by tidal fishing ground in orkney Bay. The meat is tender and the juice is delicious. Note: Fish included.
5. Instructions for use of hair dryer remind consumers: Please don't use it while sleeping;
6. The packaging bag of a pudding bread says: It will become hot after heating;
However, in the western world with a sound legal system, some packaging instructions that look a little' retarded' are likely to bring unimaginable losses to themselves. For example, article 10 above triggered a lawsuit. Manufacturers sell children's "Superman costume" in supermarkets, and the advertisement on the huge banner provided by manufacturers in supermarkets is "If you want to fly in space, put on' Superman costume'". For a time, the business of this manufacturer was booming, and orders flew like snowflakes, but who would have thought that a disaster was coming. There is a child who is really ready to fly into space after wearing a spacesuit, but he can't fly. He thinks his parents cheated him, the food is not delicious, and he even refused to go to kindergarten. So his parents asked a lawyer to sue the manufacturer who produced and sold children's "Superman clothes" for committing crimes such as "fraud", "counterfeiting" and "child abuse". I won't go into details. In short, manufacturers will suffer huge economic losses because of the lack of in-depth thinking on commodity packaging words. With the further improvement of China's legal system, especially the promulgation of a series of legal texts such as the Consumer Protection Law, the above-mentioned similar cases can be used as our reference.
Hidden dangers in the instructions for use
With the improvement of living standard and technical level, people are exposed to and use more and more commodities every day. However, more and more consumers report that the instructions of some products are incomprehensible or the contents are simple and confusing. Or the terminology is abstruse and difficult to understand, thus affecting the normal use of goods and even causing accidents. At present, the instructions of drugs, mobile phones, cosmetics, air conditioners, pesticides, fertilizers and other products circulating in the market all have the problem of "saying" but not "knowing" to varying degrees, and the resulting consumer disputes are also on the rise. According to the investigation and analysis, there are mainly the following problems in the field of product specifications:
1. The language is inappropriate and the sentence is fluent. Some product manuals, especially those translated from English, have nonstandard entries, unclear language expressions, no popular language, and are not in line with the reading habits of China consumers, so the contents are difficult to understand.
2. Traditional fonts are used, and Chinese and English are mixed and arranged. Even some product manuals have simplified characters and traditional characters, mixed in Chinese and English, or marked in pure English, which makes consumers puzzled.
Too many technical terms and foreign languages are used, which makes many consumers unable to understand. Some product manuals have too many technical parameters and too many terms. In some product manuals, foreign languages are widely used in technical indicators and charts. Even the words "on" and "off" in household appliances, some manufacturers are willing to use "on" and "off" in English, otherwise it will be considered "vulgar" and not up to grade.
4. False propaganda and exaggerated efficacy. For example, some air-conditioning products are advertised as "low noise", and the noise under low-speed start-up is introduced to consumers as a standard in the manual. In other product introductions, there have been exaggerated propaganda terms such as "most effective", "best" and "super efficient". Some instructions contain unscientific and impersonal words such as "pure natural plants", "customers' first choice" and "effective rate 100%", and even claim that "taking * * tablets can eliminate all discomfort and restore health", which is obviously self-promotion.
5. There are various product names. In particular, some imported product manuals are translated from English into Chinese word for word. Take the drug instructions as an example. Some people refer to "pharmacological action" as "characteristics" and "adverse reactions" as "other possible effects of drugs", which is extremely irregular and inaccurate.
6. The items in the manual are "merged". In some instructions, the contents that should be marked separately according to regulations or agreements are written together in a general and centralized way. For example, the adverse reactions, precautions and taboos in the drug instructions are all written in the "notes" item, which not only brings trouble to consumers' reading and understanding, but also makes some important contents related to drug use easy to be ignored or cause trouble in understanding, and some important contents related to drug safety easy to be ignored or omitted.