Subtitle: The secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and other Persuasive Containers.

Packages understand us better than we understand packages. Today's marketers know that they have to trigger desire instantly - and they do so visually, creating packages that make all the right promises, through hidden messages that play on our deepest fears and desires.

In THE TOTAL PACKAGE the renowned design critic Thomas Hine reveals the sophisticated ways modern manufacturers appeal to our emotions in order to sell their products. Tracing the art and science of package design from its emergence in the last century to today's most instantly recognisable brand images, Hine has written an essential book for students of popular culture, designers, marketers and anyone who goes shopping.