That’s a Wrap: The Best and Worst Packaging of 2023
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.
What’s Next
Your stories continue to make waves. Each nomination and comment helps push the conversation forward, showing industry leaders that packaging isn’t just a design feature; it’s an access issue. The next phase of the campaign will involve us reaching out to companies whose products were nominated, both best and worst, to share these insights and advocate for meaningful, user-centered changes.
Together, we’ll keep advocating for changes that make packaging safer, easier and more inclusive.
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.
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.