Dark patterns in plastic

In UX design we often talk about dark patterns.

Maybe it’s a cancelation flow that’s hard to get out of (looking at you NY Times). Usually it’s a digital product or service that tricks you into doing something you didn’t understand. These are bad. They make companies money, but only at the cost of the users are misinformed or have no choice in the matter.

For years I’ve been bothered by shrinkflation flooding across all packaged food products. The food we buy is smaller and more expensive.

Another area that I don’t seen talked about enough is the plastic packaging on consumables. More specifically the serving size you should use and the serving size the product tries to trick you into using.

Take liquid laundry detergent. It’s the most egregious example I’ve found. The lid is 10x larger than it needs to be. A quick search on Reddit suggests that a few tablespoons (at most) is all you need. The lid suggets you should fill it up, and the labels are intentionally confusing. I’ve started testing much smaller amounts, and am considering switching to non-liquid.

Maple syrup is just as bad. Any family with young kids (and kids at heart) knows that the opening on the maple syrup jar is about 5x larger than it needs to be. One accidental tip and you’ve spilled half the contents across your single pancake. This is intentional. It uses up the product faster. But it doesn’t serve the customer. When we buy maple syrup I’ll cut a thin slit across the plastic seal instead of pulling it off.

Another example is toothpaste. Commercials would have us believe you should be laying a whole slug across the bristles of your brush. In reality much smaller is just fine.

I don’t know how to solve this. Companies want to make more money from usage. But surely there must be a way to stop all these dark patterns.