From Color to Consumer: Plastic Cutlery Marketing

Consumer demands of disposability, style and cleanliness have contributed to the widespread use of single-use plastic ware. The advertisements for plastic cutlery focus on these consumer values in order to perpetuate mass consumption.  The marketing of the product as disposable contributes to the identity of customers as mass consumers.  In order to continually keep the consumer enthralled with the product, advertisements constantly appeal to the consumer’s sense of style. This supposed style is ever-changing; giving the advertisement perpetual validity. As Susan Strasser argues, “The extension of fashion concepts to many goods beyond clothing encourage[s] people to replace things before they [are] used up, even as diversified models and colors encourage consumers to buy more of what they already had” (200).  This “fashion extension” expands to trivial silverware and encourages disposable use and constant replacement.  It is the transcendence of “fashion” to other products that contributes to the creation of a disposable society and helps persuade consumers to buy and dispose of products quickly.

The combination of images and text in each ad appeals to both logic and aesthetics. In the advertisement for “silver” utensils, there is a focus on disposability and ease to persuade consumers to purchase the product. The silver look of the spoons is a departure from the less stylish white plastic cutlery, which encourages use in more formal situations or even in the silverware drawer. The features that are highlighted on the left side of the packaging aim to persuade consumers to continually purchase one-use spoons. “Disposable” and “great for Everyday Use” are catchphrases that encourage high use to create a constant demand. The spoons are sold in a homogeneous package, without knives or forks, which forces consumers to purchase three packages for most uses. The high number of pieces per package helps give the impression of affordability, which re-enforces the idea of using a new spoon each time.

The Pandora plastic silverware has less of a focus on disposability but a focus on versatility and style. The image places the product and all the color options at the forefront, persuading consumers to buy multiple sets. The phrase “from dull to delicious” coupled with the word “transform” connotes a lifestyle shift and rising level of happiness with fun colors of cutlery. The ad highlights the price for a four-piece set, which is affordable. But instead of using a high volume of pieces per package to enforce affordability and high use, the Pandora ad uses the affordable price and a less disposable product to persuade customers to buy four piece sets in more colors. This ad markets the silverware with stylistic obsolescence rather than as a completely disposable product.

Bombarded with constant advertisements encouraging stylistic obsolescence, the consumer is forced to compete with the always updating trends. This compulsion to listen to these advertisements and their messages perpetuates the cycle so clearly represented with plastic silverware: the more you buy, the more up to date you appear.  The convenience of disposable products makes it easier for consumers to follow stylistic trends.

Posted by Mariah Foley, Emma Naatz, Meghan Brasiel