That’s a Wrap: The Best and Worst Packaging of 2023
About That’s a Wrap 2023
The annual social media campaign is designed to highlight types of packaging consumers have struggled with or found easy-to-open in the past 12 months. Your insights will assist our Accessible Design Division in identifying if particular packaging is becoming easier or harder-to-open over time. Your responses will also be used to educate the packaging industry about your experiences with packaging and hopefully reduce incidences of wrap-rage in the future.
Nominations for 2023 are now closed.
The winners and losers for 2023
2023 was our biggest year for nominations and votes for our annual ‘That’s A Wrap’ campaign. It is with great enthusiasm that we unveil the well-deserved winners:
Our top 5 worst offenders in 2023 were:
5: Peel Tabs – Usually labelled as ‘Peel/Pull Here’, sadly many of these are still impossible to open.
4: Blister Packs – Both foil and plastic blister packs are tricky for consumers with arthritis to open, with some consumers resorting to using knifes and scissors to open the backing.
3: Jars – Plastic and glass jars with metal lids continue to cause pain to our consumers hands.
2: Foil/induction Seals – Usually found hiding under drink and sauce bottle lids, these have caused a lot of trouble for our community in 2023.
1: The WINNER: Childproof medication containers – described by one consumer as a “terrible torture device” and when some of the pharmacists struggle to open them on your behalf, we know the problem is significant.
We will continue to contact these companies about your experiences and advocate for change.
The best packaging of 2023:
This year we had a variety of nominations such as biscuits, tea, and sauce bottles. The WINNER this year is the Goodness Me Really Fruity snacks. The snacks are packaged in a pouch with serrated edges that requires minimal force and grip strength to open. Well done GoodnessMe.
The rules
You shouldn’t have to struggle with any packaging, but until that happens we want to know what packaging consistently makes your life easier. We may also buy samples of nominations to confirm that they are in fact reasonably accessible.
What does the ‘worst packaging’ mean?
Packaging that counts as the worst:
- you couldn’t open it at all
- you opened it after a struggle
- caused you pain
- hurt your self-opening it
- had to use a tool, like a knife or scissors, to open it
- had to ask someone else to open it for you
- caused you to damage or spill the contents
- caused a brief moment of hesitation, anxiety or fear about opening it due to previous negative experiences.
What does the ‘best packaging’ mean?
We are looking for packaging that is genuinely easy-to-open, not just slightly better then a really bad alternative.
We may decide to disqualify and exclude packaging from the final tally, if:
Packaging still needs a tool to open it, including knives, scissors, grip matts or other creative tools
Packaging that consumers commonly hurt themselves opening
Nominations that seem to be not genuine e.g. sarcastic responses or if nominations appear to be made by employees of particular manufacturers or brand owners if its believe they are trying to influence the result.
Tag us and Use the hashtag: #bestandworstwrap
Each Social Media Comment or ‘like’ or ‘comment’ agreeing with a nomination will be accepted as a vote towards that nomination.
Other criteria
- Nominations for 2023 are now closed.
- Each Facebook ‘like’ or ‘comment’ agreeing with a nomination will be accepted as a vote towards that nomination. When nominations are made as descriptions rather then specific product names, we will group the nominations and votes as best as possible when tallying the final results.
- You can nominate multiple products, but only one vote per person will be counted per nomination. In other words you can’t ‘vote’ for your own nomination. Here’s how it works:
- Amy on Facebook nominates a product, which is then counted as one vote towards Product X
- Bob comments on Amy’s post in support of that nomination, this will be counted as a vote towards the same Product X
- Melissa then ‘likes’ both Amy’s nomination and Bob’s comment on Facebook, only one of these reactions will be counted, so one additional vote would go towards Product X
- Max nominates Product X through the online form, this is counted as one vote towards that product
- A total of four votes would be tallied for Product X.
- If you specifically name a product and brand/manufacturer in the campaign we will try our best to contact them to let them know a nomination was made regarding their product. If you provide more details through our online form and provide an email address, we can follow up with any additional details needed to make a complaint. We will also ask your permission to share your contact details with the manufacturer so they can contact you directly about your experience. The more they know about the issues the more likely they are to make changes.
- We love to hear stories about your experiences, both good and bad, as we use these to educate the packaging industry about your needs. If you have photos or videos then that’s even better, please upload them and tag us so they can be counted as a nomination. Alternatively you can send the file directly to us at [email protected]
- Nominations close 31 December 2023 and the top responses will be announced on social media in late January.
- Arthritis Australia will choose to tally the products based on the product name, packaging category or packaging opening feature. Arthritis Australia reserve the right to interpret nomination and votes as well as promote diverse selection of category winners.
- This is a survey about Australian packaging, so please only participate if you have been opening packaging bought in Australia. If you’re in New Zealand, let us know and we can pass your responses onto our New Zealand counterparts, who are also trying to improve packaging for consumers.
Discover more...
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Programs & Research
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10 steps for living well with arthritis
Here is our 10 steps checklist to help you live with arthritis.
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What is accessible design?
Find out about what accessible design is and about the Accessible Design Division.
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