Mother-Packs

Narrative by Mariane Cara, Posted October 5, 2024

Image courtesy of the author

The CASE FILE series — to which SEMIOVOX has invited our semiotician colleagues from around the world to contribute — shares memorable case studies via story telling.

In 2017, when Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” was topping the charts, I was hired by engineers from a major snack company’s R&D department to decode the meanings of shapes: i.e., sweet and salty snacks’ packaging. I wouldn’t be taking packaging colors, logos, graphics, or text into consideration… just structures, contours, materials, methods of opening and closing, that sort of thing. They shipped me nearly 60 packages — not only their own, but their competitors’ packages too.

I hired an assistant for the project, and we dove into the mound of packages: opening and closing them, stretching them to the breaking point. In an effort to be as scientific as possible, we documented our efforts with photographs, and logged our findings in a spreadsheet, categorizing each package according to metrics such as “softness and hardness” (a continuum that ranged from 1 to 9). We sorted the packages into nine groups, and I attempted to apply Peirce’s three categories — firstness, secondness, and thirdness — to each of the groups… a process that created 180 slides that the client was never destined to see.

I needed a better way to make sense of our findings… something relatable, emotional, a rubric that would be easy for the client to understand and use. One day, while stuck in São Paulo’s insane traffic, it hit me: Protection. Packages are protective, and so are the mothers who (typically) buy them. What if the various types of packaging represented types of… mothers?

Things moved swiftly after that. This proved to be a rich territory to explore, one that resulted in results like the following…

Overprotective Mom (who “overwraps” her child)
Restrictive Mom (who defines limited quantities)
Explanatory Mom (who gives all the information)
Righteous Mom (who does everything to the smallest detail)
Healthy Mom (who offers everything in the right amount)
Conservative Mom (who is not prepared for changes in the world)
Indulgent Mom (who wants offer more, more, more)
Relaxed Mom (who gives too much room)
Extravagant Mom (who loves visual excesses)
Trendy Mom (who follows the latest fads and fashions)
Insecure Mom (who doesn’t know the best way to care for her child)
Absent Mom (who does not protect her child)
Shy Mom (who says nothing about her child)
Chauffeur Mom (who shuttles her child everywhere)
And so on…

I was a bit nervous about presenting this touchy-feely analysis to the engineers who’d hired me. But they loved it, and asked me to present my analysis not only to them but to the LatAm team… and the Global team.

For each presentation, I saved the crucial insight for last. Many of their SKUs featured packaging that was difficult to open… which created not just a functional problem but an emotional problem. I’d tell them:

“As a company, you can choose which type of ‘mom-pack’ each product will have. But remember, no one wants to risk injuring a mom by using a knife or scissors on them.”

They understood my point immediately.

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