31. Proactiv Blemish Cream
Product Price: $20*
Purchased at: Proactiv.com
Made by: Proactiv
Another seemingly wasteful deceptive packaging was discovered by someone who just wanted some acne treatment medication. Proactiv has been around for years, and its skincare products are designed to help (most) people control stubborn acne. The expensive system usually costs $29.99 for the deluxe care set ($19.99 for the three-step set).
Proactiv Blemish Cream u/ToastStatic / Reddit.com
The Emergency Blemish Relief is a spot treatment. You only need a little bit to dry out pimples. The tube is small, but the box containing the tube is four times the tube’s size, making disappointed purchasers think they are getting a far better quantity for their buck than they really are.
32. Pro Long Hot Dog
Product Price: $3.39*
Purchased at: Sonic
Made by: Sonic
Twitterer @Bjables summed up everyone’s reaction perfectly when he said, “Are you kidding me with this?” The packaging is designed to make the buyer think that they’re getting a giant hot dog, when, in reality, they are not going to get to “Prolong Deliciousness.”
Pro Long Hot Dog @Bjables / Twitter.com
When you open the pack of this hot dog, it’s half the size of the box. The bun is even larger than the hot dog. As @Bjables said, this is definitely #MisleadingPackaging. The hot dog appears to come from Sonic. Unlike the package says, this is definitely not a “quarter pounder.” More like a fraction of that.
33. Morello Chocolates
Product Price: $9.99*
Purchased at: Unknown
Made by: Kamila Chocolate
Kamila Chocolate is a company based in Kosovo, and it is known for its delicious candies. However, its packaging could use a little work, as it appears to be a little deceptive. When someone purchases a box of chocolates (insert Forrest Gump reference here), they expect it to be an entire box.
Morello Chocolates @u/Judithsins / Pinterest
However, these Kamila Morello Chocolates (compound chocolates with different liquid filling in the middle) only cover the area you can see through the vent on the package. So, really, you’re paying for half a shiny gold box of chocolates. There is also chocolate missing, though the picture-taker might have been responsible for that.
34. Crayola Crayons
Product Price: $0.99*
Purchased at: Ollie’s Bargain Outlet
Made by: Crayola
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is a chain of discount stores, and it lets you “get good stuff cheap!” according to the slogan. However, one Crayola Crayon purchaser might disagree with the “good part.” He bought a box of sixty-four Crayola Crayons, which usually costs $5.49, according to the Crayola website, for $0.99.
Crayola Crayons @r/mildlyinteresting / Reddit.com
However, when he opened the box, this “great deal” ended up not being so great. Instead of sixty-four colors, there was only one: orange. So, not even a good color. Unless the shopper has a drawing filled with traffic cones and absolutely nothing else, these crayons are pretty much useless.
35. Vitamin D3
Product Price: $11.39*
Purchased at: Target
Made by: Up&Up (Target)
While this packaging isn’t necessarily “deceptive,” as there are 500 soft gels in the bottle, which is what the package says, it is definitely unnecessary. Up&Up is Target’s generic brand, and it has been around since 2009. Some Up&Up products might be “cruelty-free,” but this one’s plastic bottle is very wasteful, as it contains twice the space necessary for the 500 soft gels.
Vitamin D3 @youandmeandrainbows / Imgur.com
Hopefully, the purchaser can find a way to reuse or repurpose the giant plastic bottle. One idea that Pinterest users love is stripping plastic bottles of paper packaging, washing them out, and redecorating them to make them into stylish vases or containers.
36. Kellogg’s Raisin Bran
Product Price: $2.88*
Purchased at: Grocery Store
Made by: Kellogg’s
Someone with a lot of time on their hands (thanks to quarantine, no doubt) discovered this deceptive marketing. One Kellogg’s Raisin Bran purchaser decided that they wanted to make sure the “Two Scoops of Raisins” guarantee on the box was up to code.
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran @MellowHippy / Imgur.com
So, they painstakingly separated the raisins and the cereal. After that was done, they weighed the raisins and found, shockingly, that there was only one scoop of raisins in Raisin Bran. Kellogg’s has yet to comment. Despite this deceptive marketing, Kellogg’s Raisin Bran has been around since the 1940s and remains one of the brand’s most popular cereals.
37. Gillette Daisy Razors
Product Price: $9.99*
Purchased at: Unknown
Made by: Gillette
If you’re not good at math, you probably don’t see the issue here. Razors are already super expensive, and the single-use ones are wildly wasteful, too. Gillette’s Daisy Brand is one of its most popular single-use razors for women, and, when you look closely, there appears to be a misprint on some of the packages.
Gillette Daisy Razors @u/lnk7332 / Reddit.com
The package says sixteen razors, but, right next to that label, it says “12 razors + 3 bonus razors,” making it one short. While there is no word on just how many razors are in the package (maybe there’s 14?), the packaging is, at the very least, confusing.
38. Colgate Value Pack
Product Price: $6.55*
Purchased at: Unknown
Made by: Colgate-Palmolive
Technically, the packaging on this Colgate Value 3-Pack didn’t say that the extra had to be the same size as the others, but it is still a little shady, to say the least (though not technically illegal, as the manufacturer probably knows). The Value 3-Pack is more like a 2-and-a-Half-Pack.
Colgate Value Pack ©pikabu.ru
There are two regular, full-size Colgate Whitening Toothpaste tubes, and the third one is more of a half-tube. The packaging was designed to hide the shortness of the extra tube behind a box of cardboard. That extra step makes it pretty clear that those tricksters at Colgate knew what they were doing.
39. Movie Theater Gummy Bears
Product Price: $2.99*
Purchased at: Movie Theater
Made by: Unknown
Movie theaters are so overpriced when it comes to their gummy bears. Even the price for this snack was much too high, as there ended up being maybe ten gummy bears in the package. One movie theatergoer found out the hard way that you should sneak in snacks from somewhere else.
Movie Theater Gummy Bears @u/ethandrzb / Reddit.com
He ordered what looked like a cup of gummy bears. Instead, the cup was empty and only the top half of the packaging—the cup’s bubble lid—was filled with candy. Though this cost $2.99, it was still more expensive than a full-size box of candy, which will generally cost $2.26 on Amazon.
40. Permatex Paints
Product Price: $5-$10*
Purchased at: Unknown
Made by: Permatex
Someone not paying close attention could easily get confused when buying Permatex paint tubes. You would think that the company would match the color of the tube to the paint instead, but Permatex did the opposite, selling a blue tube filled with Threadlocker Red paint and a red tube of Threadlocker Blue Paint.
Permatex Paints @u/bennythomson / Reddit.com
Permatex sells professional-grade products too, usually for contractors, which makes it a doubly-bad idea not to have the labels match the color tubing. The bottom line is to make sure you read the labels carefully before applying Permatex to anything. Other than this weird packaging flaw, the company appears to be highly-rated on Amazon.