Better Safe Than Sorry
When the Powertabs people saw the packaging design for their single-use chargers, they must have known it looked like a condom wrapper. There’s no way anybody looks at that (scroll through the pictures until you see the wrapped one) and doesn’t immediately think “condom.”
The Powertabs themselves are a good idea. No matter how good you are at husbanding your battery life, at some point your phone will die. Probably at the worst time. But if you have one of these single-use chargers stashed in your car or backpack, they’ll save the day. We’d like to believe that the people who came up with this brilliant idea were aware their packaging looked like a prophylactic, and forged on regardless.
In fact, maybe they made their wrapper look like a condom on purpose…
We don’t think they need any sneaky marketing. $3 per phone charge may seem pricey, but really you’re paying $9 to banish battery-death-anxiety altogether. And it’s a lot cheaper and more convenient than buying separate powerbanks for your gym bag, car, hot air balloon emergency preparedness kit, etc. But maybe the Powertabs marketing team thought they needed a Freudian nudge.
It’s a weird mental association to draw, between battery emergencies and safe sex, but perhaps not the worst. Both products can make the difference between a crappy day and a great one. Both can only be used once. And both demonstrate maturity and forward-thinking in their owners.
Could the geniuses at Powertabs be tugging at our subconscious desires like the strings of a marionette? Could they be whispering to our reptile brains with subliminal messaging?
We’re not saying the phrase “Plug Me In,” printed in large block letters on the wrapper’s face, was meant to subconsciously entice customers with sexual innuendo. We would never stoop to such lewdness. But now you’re thinking about it.
Nor will call attention to the phallic nature of the battery icon. Seems perfectly normal to us.
We’re just saying, maybe this packaging is secretly using sex to sell one of the least sexy products imaginable.
Really, the question is not, “Why are these single-use batteries packaged like condoms?” It’s, “Why isn’t everything packaged like condoms?
