This article explains the problems and historical examples of over-packaging, starting with the experience of impulse buying fruit at the supermarket. Using the tactics of the great Korean general Yi Sun-sin, modern day dramas, and product packaging, we will explore the positive and negative aspects of over-packaging, and discuss the impact and importance of over-packaging on consumers.
I was buying fruit at the supermarket the other day when a box of pears caught my eye. The outside of the box featured a large, delicious-looking pear and a picture of one of my favorite celebrities enjoying it. The picture made me impulse buy the pear. But the first reason I bought the pears was because I liked the size of the box. I thought it was a windfall for me to have a box full of pears that were inexpensive, of good quality, and in large quantities. However, when I got home and opened the box, I was very disappointed. In addition, when I actually ate the pears, I felt that the taste, size, and quality of the pears were very different from the pictures, and I felt that the hype was grossly overstated. From this example, I think that bad hype can initially attract consumers’ attention and favor, but in the end, it can lead to consumers being disappointed and turning away. This is just one example of bad hype in the sense of consultation, but if we look at hype in a broader sense, we can approach semantics from a different perspective.
First, I would like to consider the merits of hidden hyperbole in a broader sense from a historical perspective. We can see the benefits of hidden hyperbole by looking at some of the diary entries of General Yi Sun-sin, one of the most revered Korean heroes. During the Imjin War, General Yi won a battle against a Japanese navy with 500 ships. It was the middle of the night, very dark, and he couldn’t see a thing, but he gathered the village anakne in a secluded spot on the beach and had them dance in a circle with a large torch in the center. The reason for this instruction was that the Joseon Navy only had 12 ships, so they needed a constructive sense of overpowering to take on the Japanese Navy, which had over 500 warships. In fact, the Japanese navy was seen in the middle of the night with a large number of personnel performing the Kanggangsuwolae dance in a large circle centered around torches. The Japanese command was misinformed about the sheer numbers of the Joseon Navy, so they were unable to attack them. General Yi succeeded in misleading the Japanese navy through hidden overconfidence.
General Yi also used an interesting hidden artillery trick at Yudal Mountain in Mokpo during the Imjin War. He stacked bags of straw and cloth, as well as fake rice bales filled with sand, in such a way that the Japanese navy thought they were real rice bales. The Japanese were fooled by General Yi’s exaggerations and mistakenly assumed that if Joseon had stacked so many rice baskets, the Joseon navy must be very powerful. General Yi Sun-sin’s use of overstatement was instrumental in confusing the Japanese and turning the Imjin War into a victory for the Joseon Dynasty.
Of course, it may be a stretch to simply extrapolate his example to the benefits of hype for modern businesses and consumers. However, General Yi Sun-sin used the advantage of overpowered artillery to confuse the Japanese army, and the Japanese army was relatively misinformed. It is important to note that General Yi Sun-sin utilized the advantage of overpowering artillery to fulfill the original purpose of defending the homeland.
This happened during World War II. Hitler of Germany wanted to start a big war, but he had no way of knowing the exact military strength of the United States. While spying on the U.S. military, the Germans climbed aboard a large warship docked by the U.S. military, touched the wheelhouse, and realized that it was very dusty. The Germans realized that the U.S. military was well-equipped but mentally disorganized, and Hitler ordered an immediate attack. If we compare the United States to General Yi Sun-sin, who won the war with the advantage of overpowering artillery, we can say that the United States failed because they were underestimated for who they were. General Yi defeated the Japanese army through overgunnery even with a small army, but the U.S. army was attacked in World War II because it was underestimated as being mentally lazy because it could not overgun even with superior equipment. It is unfortunate that the United States failed to apply the concept of the advantages of overgunnery.
If you read the Joseon Dynasty chronicles, there are only 10 relatively short mentions of Daejanggeum that document the development of Korean food culture. The fact that an epic drama called “Daejanggeum” was created with such a sparse content is enough to be considered an example of hype. If the drama had been made based on the records of the Joseon Dynasty without any hype, there would have been no Daejanggeum as an epic drama that could have led the way for Korean cuisine and spread Korean food culture to the world.
“Daejayeong”, a drama about the founding of Goryeo, also uses hyperbole. Although there is only a small amount of historical data on Daejayeong, writer Shin Bong-seung uses his imagination and fiction based on historical data to add excitement, thrill, and suspense to the drama, and I think he has made good use of the advantages of hyperbole in a good sense that is very useful for the education of growing children.
In the original Roman texts, William Shakespeare’s four major tragedies, “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “King Lear,” and “Macbeth,” as well as his later romances, were written in smaller portions. Shakespeare, I believe, took the small amount of material in the original Roman texts and fleshed them out, adding characters, and exaggerating them to make them more realistic, intense, and rich.
A vendor on the street named A using a small spoonful of sugar to make cotton candy bigger than a person’s head is also an example of exaggeration in the broadest sense. I think the examples in this article are also good examples of the benefits of overpricing in the broad sense.
Assuming that there is a product called A, customers are generally not familiar with the manuals for complex objects, so if Company A packs a miniature doll or a small robot to help customers easily access the product and understand the complex process of using it, or adds a set of illustrations that explain how to use it, even if the volume of the packaging is increased, I think this is a good intention that makes good use of the interesting hidden benefits of overpricing for the convenience of customers.
Of course, over-packaging can lead to consumer disappointment. However, in the case of a box of pears, a large box of pears may contain less pears and more other packaging than the pears themselves. However, I think consumers should understand that packaging is also there to protect the quality of the product. I also think, “Have I not been trying to over-package myself since elementary school?” as I accumulated specifications. People who try to look prettier with makeup, people who put mousse in their hair to make their hair look better, people who exaggerate their stories when they talk, they’re all trying to sell themselves. We all want to make ourselves look better to others. It’s not a bad thing to want to make yourself look good to others, and it’s not a bad thing to use the goodness of this hidden hype to showcase your goodness to society. However, even if it’s the same hype, the evaluation of the goodness of your own hype or the goodness of your company’s unique value should be different.
