Dive Summary:

• Fonterra's new "light-proof" milk bottle received a record 161 worst packaging nominations (out of 287) for the 2013 Unpackit Packaging Awards, but was ultimately not one of the eight finalists.
• The lightproof bottle was introduced in April and was meant to protect the taste and nutritional value of milk, and it didn't make the list of finalists because it's recyclable, clearly labeled and similar in weight to the company's previous milk bottle.
• The bottle's introduction was met with backlash from consumers, who complained that they couldn't see how much milk was left in the bottle, leading to questions of whether the bottles would be of value to recyclers.

(Image credit: Fonterra)

Dive Insight:

Once customers are set in their ways, it can be hard to get them to accept a new design. The opaque Fonterra bottle may be intuitive and help preserve milk longer, but the unforeseen consequence of customers to be able to view how much milk remains in the bottle made the packaging flop quicker than some efforts to introduce bagged milk in the U.S. Would customers be more open if it featured a thin, translucent measuring strip like those found on bottles of motor oil? If so, it would save Fonterra the trouble of scrapping the design entirely.