Whether your company produces food or cosmetic products, consumers have been conditioned to look not just for what a product contains but what it doesn’t contain. Labeling regulations dictate that items in most markets need to include lists of ingredients, but from a marketing standpoint, many companies also advertise what a product is made without.
On the Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Hand Soap bottle, for example, the back label sports a chart with two lists:
- Full of: plant-derived ingredients, natural essential oils, aloe vera extract, glycerin, olive oil
- Free of: parabens and phthalates, triclosan, MEA and DEA, formaldehyde, artificial colors
Mrs. Meyer’s uses a subtle play on words to communicate the contents of products as well as the manufacturing practices the company avoids while developing items. As a company with a reputation for natural household solutions, the business has an interest in articulating what it adds as well as what it skips. By devising the label element as a chart, it’s easily readable and provides contrast between the positive aspects of this hand soap and the negative aspects of others on the market.
We also see this in the processed food industry. Companies with organic or natural bona fides often boast that their foods don’t contain dyes, preservatives and other elements that have been considered toxic, unhealthy or ethically unsound.
When you devise a label for your next food, cosmetic or household product, give some thought to what’s not in the bottle, as well as what is. With a custom label printing strategy, businesses can use an industrial label printer to take complete control over their marketing efforts. This allows them to produce packaging that most accurately reflects corporate values and manufacturing approaches.