History Main / MisleadingPackageSize

* A lot of companies do this out of either false advertizing (make the buyer think there is more in the package than there actually is) or just plain standard package sizes.

* ''Series/ShiningTimeStation'': In one episode, Schemer gives away some sample lollipops he got from a candy manufacturer. With the wrapper on, they look like old-fashioned, giant lollipops. After multiple layers of wrapping are removed, the actual pop is about the size of a marble.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma shows off her ComplexityAddiction by considering doing this to herself: turning Kuzco into a tiny flea, then putting him in a box and putting that in another box and mailing it to herself, where she would smash it with a hammer when it arrives.

Contrast BiggerOnTheInside and ClownCar. Has nothing to do with BiggerIsBetterInBed. Or GagPenis.

[[folder:Film - Live-action]]

** UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch games also fall into this category: the game cartridges are the size of a small memory card, but the boxes they come in are only slightly smaller than the packaging of Wii games, which are full-size discs.

* Plastic construction kits marketed by Airfix used to be sold in clear plastic bags or rigid clear plastic bubbles that were tailored to the size of the product, and gave an accurate idea of what you were buying. Today the same number of parts on their sprues are packed into over-large cardboard boxes which are anything up to eight times larger than is needed to enclose the sprues. This has been criticised many times by lifelong modellers as a surefire way to disillusion today's young modellers from wanting to buy Airfix or indeed any kits.

* The topic of one of James Rolfe's ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGL3zr3xDHU You Know What's Bullshit?]]'' videos. He ordered a USB, but it came in a giant piece of cardboard that's ''13 inches by 9 inches'' (that's roughly the size of a sheet of A4 paper, for reference). James thought he'd gotten drunk and ordered a big coffee table book at first, since the box it came in was so deceptively large.

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': [[{{Parody}} Parodied]] several times. From clothes to books to Death Notes to flowers, the characters' backs can store them all.

-->"It's alright Italia-kun. I always bring spare cosplays with me." He reached into some sort of secret compartment behind his back, pulling out an identical outfit to the one the brunet was currently wearing. Seriously, how do anime characters have such an ability?

--> Japan disappeared into a bathroom for a short amount of time before reappearing, now clad in a sharp black suit and tie with a white dress shirt and black pants, taking hexagonal glasses from his pocket—or wherever anime characters store all their stuff—before putting them on.

-->"Humph." The larger scoffed back. He then reached into the magical space all anime characters have, whipping out a book conveniently titled 'How to Catch a Runaway Italian'.

-->Both reached into the magical space all anime characters have, extracting black notebooks—Japan's having unidentifiable symbols on its cover as Italy's had 'Death Note' clearly printed on it in gothic letters—before taking out pens and colored pencils as well, opening the pages before scrawling in them.

-->Giggling, the auburn reached into the magical space all anime characters have, an exquisite bouquet of utmost grandeur popping out from behind his back. "Tada!"

Normally, due to people not wanting to waste too much material, packages tend to be about the same size as what's in them. Not when this trope comes up. In that case, an entire wooden box used for major transport could be used to carry a single pen, a steel suitcase the size of a rifle is used to transport a single ammo clip, etc. Tends to be parodied in cartoons, when they somehow pull a giant 30+ Inch TV out of a package the size of a shoebox, in which case it can overlap with HammerSpace.

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': [[{{Parody}} Parodied]] several times. From clothes to books to Death Notes to flowers, the character's backs can store them all.

* Some game companies (notoriously FantasyFlightGames) make boxes far bigger than the [[TabletopGames Tabletop Game]] they contain actually requires. This makes the boxes stack neatly on the shelves with other games, but it also means that a game consisting of two decks of cards, a handful of counters, and a rulebook takes up a 12" x 12" space on your shelf.

'''Brian:''' Oh.

* A lot of companies do this out of either false advertizing (Make the buyer think there is more in the package than there actually is) or just plain standard package sizes.

* WesternAnimationClassicDisneyShort;

* In the recent Disney short "WesternAnimation/HowToHookUpYourHomeTheater", WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} is having trouble opening a small package of cables. After failing to open it, a single drop of sweat causes the package to burst open, covering Goofy in about half a metric ton of cables.