Its sometimes interesting seeing how a company decides to market its products. This is especially true on the actual packaging. But sometimes, I just can’t understand what the designers of the packaging were thinking…or smoking. When I was in New York City last week I bought all sorts of stuff I needed. I bought pricey things like a Sony Reader and a nice pair of Ecco shoes. And I bought less exciting things like socks and underwear.

For the Sony Reader, I went to the Sony store. But for the socks and underwear I went to KMart. Now perhaps the typical KMart customer is different from me. But I have a hard time believing they are THAT different. Looking at the vast choices of underwear and socks I found the style I like. And when it came down to two different brands that appeared to be nearly identical, it was the packaging that made all the difference.

One bag was your normal sealed, plastic bag with 4 pairs of underwear. The other had a big logo at the top right declaring a special feature: resealable bag. Great! Now how exactly can I tell if this package was opened and resealed before I buy it? How do I determine if my fellow KMart shoppers tried out my future underwear only to find out that they were too small or large? These are questions I don’t want to answer.

If you did take this bag home, what would you store in it? Is this the home for your underwear when you are not wearing them? Is this how you carry them to the laundromat? Or do you use the bag to store other things: a bag of glass perhaps. Or maybe you throw a bunch of herbs and oil and vinegar in there along with a chicken breast to marinade before throwing it on the grill.

I can’t really see myself doing anything with a resealable bag that once contained underwear possibly pre-tested by some sweaty homeless guy. I ended up buying the other choice. So to the marketers at Fruit of the Loom and Hanes, I suggest saving your resealable bags for another time and give me something I have to tear open and destroy in order to get at whats inside. I would feel a lot better with it and I am sure I am not alone.