A History of Branded Packaging

Robert Opie (Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising, London)

Even though the trade in goods and commodities has been around for thousands of years, it has only been during the past 200 years that the development of packaging, as we know it today, has come about. During the Victorian era commodities like tea, sugar, cocoa, dried fruits, coffee, spices, tobacco, cereals and so on were sold loose by the merchant, who had to individually weigh out each customer’s requirement and then wrap them himself. Such commodities were delivered to the retailer in bulk, being transported in crates, barrels and sacks. Much of the merchant’s professional skill lay in his ability to ‘sell’ his wares, extolling their virtues and, if necessary, grinding the coffee beans or blending the tea to each customer’s requirements. Thus the business of the grocer was relatively labour-intensive.

By the 1850s there was an increasing outcry against the dishonesty shown by many shopkeepers. They would add spurious materials to make up the weight of goods, thus adulterating the quality. For example they added chalk to flour and sand to sugar, and watered down milk.