23 Misleading Packaging That Turns Shopping Into A Crime Scene

Updated on December 31, 2025

I opened a “value size” container this morning and felt personally gaslit by plastic. It wasn’t empty, but it was spiritually empty—like the product had moved out and left a forwarding address. That’s why misleading packaging makes me feral: I’m not asking for miracles, I’m asking for the box to stop lying to my face.

This time of year is extra rude for it. You’re grabbing last-minute snacks for tonight, trying to stock up for January, and every aisle is a booby trap of air and cardboard. Reddit is full of receipts, Amazon reviews are full of rage, and Costco shoppers are out here doing forensic analysis with their thumbs.

23 Misleading Packaging For When You Peel Back The Truth

Some of these misleading packaging pics are pure theater. The marker bucket with the cardboard spacer is basically a stage set: product arranged around the edges, a big empty void in the middle, and your optimism dying in real time. Same energy with the sticker roll that’s mostly oversized cardboard core. You think you’re buying a lifetime supply, but you’re really buying a tube with commitment issues.

The pizza box window trick is a personal insult. Pepperoni placed only where you can see it is not “presentation,” it’s a magic act. And the jam-cookie bag promising big glossy centers, then delivering tiny red dots? That’s not misleading packaging, that’s a breakup.

Then you’ve got the classic “illusion of depth” moves. Chocolate trays with raised bottoms so the candy looks thicker than it is—an air sandwich in plastic form. Face wash tubes where the label hides the fact the container is half empty—peel it back and suddenly you’re paying for vibes and manufacturing.

The jar-based scams are my least favorite because they look so trustworthy. That hair pomade jar with a false bottom and thick walls is basically a tiny plastic pyramid scheme. The tea jars with labels covering the empty space are also brutal; you buy a whole jar and get a teaspoon of leaves, like the tea is on a diet.

One of the funniest and most confusing is the melatonin bottles where the 150-tablet “value size” is bigger than the 250-tablet bottle. Math didn’t lose—math got mugged. And the huge pizza roll bag next to the sad little pile on a baking sheet is the perfect illustration of slack fill: the bag is living large, the food is not.

If you need more consumer-chaos therapy after this misleading packaging, queue up 40 Shrinkflation Photos That Should Be Illegal, 31 Grocery Store Memes That Hurt, and 40 Packaging Fails That Made People Write Essays In Reviews.

Laura Bennett writes like your shopping buddy who reads labels like bedtime stories—cheerful tone, sharp eyes, and zero patience for air-filled lies.