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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

Packaging has long been recognized as the silent salesperson and has been the focus of much recent regulation. For the most part, however, this regulation ignores the nonverbal package label components. The verbal elements of a package are accurate reflections of the product’s characteristics. Package, graphics, however, can be used to strengthen or weaken the marketer’s explicit verbal claims or to generate inferences that could conflict with the verbal information (Bone & France, 2001). Package design attributes like color, shape, pictures etc. carry a message about the product as well. Maybe this nonverbal message is an undercover one but not less important. During the last decades in food consumption have been observed several trends that have to do with changes in social and economic environment as well as in lifestyle. The working patterns, the increased employment of women, the lack of time, the income growth and several other factors led to the trend for fast food, convenience foods and food out of home (Petzoldt, Joiko, & Menrad, 2008).  Packaged food is an indispensable component in the modern lifestyle due to the greater demand for convenient, portable, easy-to-prepare meal solutions that lessen the hassles of grocery shopping and preparing a meal. However, various local food products such as Ethiopian cookies, popcorn, Kollo etc. in Ethiopia lack adequate packaging. In such situation, innovation in packaging becomes a fundamental strategy for competitive success and survival within a competitive market. An innovative packaging design can change product perception and create a new market position (Rundh, 2005). A good packaging design is regarded as an essential part of successful business practice. The reason many companies invest massive amount of money on packaging is because they are well aware that a stunning packaging will draw consumer’s attention and is capable of turning the buyer on or off. Packaging is a communication device providing details about the product, including price, contents, ingredients and nutritional values as well as cooking instructions and recommended used by dates (Ahmed, Ahmed, & Salman, 2005)

Package layout is important for information presentation. However, packaging information can create confusion by conveying either too much information or misleading and inaccurate information (Silayoi & Speece, 2007). To maximize the information carried on products, manufacturers often use very small fonts and very dense writing styles. This reduces readability and sometimes causes confusion. To overcome this problem food industry and the regulation authorities have suggested that nutritional information panels should be laid out in the same way for all food products so that they are easy to understand quickly. 

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