Over at Lowe’s they have a Lufkin Shockforce Nite Owl tape measure 2-pack promo, where you essentially buy one and get one free. With this deal, you get two tape measures for $30 instead of one.
I have a review sample of the new Crescent Lufkin tape measures, and there’s a lot to like, although I haven’t tested it in very demanding conditions yet.
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I like the blade visibility, and the ergonomics seem to be decent.
At the store, I noticed something that I wasn’t very fond of, and it’s something I also noticed with my review sample.
Here’s the back of the packaging. What do you notice first? Let’s take a closer look:
It’s designed, engineered, and tested in the USA, but made in China.
No biggie, the same is true with a lot of products. Apple products, for example, are imported but have “designed by Apple in California” labeling, or something of the sort.
But I can’t help but shake the feeling that the larger “USA” and red-white-blue branding is going to immediately noticeable and that some customers won’t scan the packaging further to see the “made in China” country of origin information.
This reminds me of a past example where an imported Husky utility knife had USA Quality Guaranteed styling.
I’m pretty annoyed by this because it could potentially be misleading by hurried shoppers. However, at least the “Made in China” COO is located close to the “Designed, Engineered, Tested in the USA” flag-styled graphic. They could have moved the country of origin information (COO) to a different corner of the packaging, although that might have been too blatant to be passable.
I’d describe my feelings towards Crescent and Lufkin as being “positive,” which might be skewing my thoughts about this. Would I be outraged if this was done by a different brand, one I’m less fond of?
Personally, I think that my current reaction is softened a bit because I first noticed it a couple of months ago with review sample packaging. With time, some of my opposition might have transformed into dissatisfied acceptance. I was extremely unhappy when I first noticed this. Maybe my reaction with this 2-pack isn’t quite as strong because I expected it?
So what are your thoughts about this? Is this an acceptable modern practice? Potentially misleading marketing trick? No big deal?