Imagine the surprise that greeted the news last Friday that, in a survey of 2,244 of Britain's best consumers  --  and that's a pretty good sample figure -- around 20% confessed to having purchased the wrong product, having been misled by lookalike packaging.  

The survey, which was conducted just two months ago in February 2013, provides some of the freshest and firmest data yet produced to show that me-too packaging  has a substantial impact, and a detrimental one at that, on the relationships that brand owners work so hard to build with consumers, building on their brand reputation in order to enhance the confidence and fulfil the expectations that the security of a well-reputed brand provides.