Shopper outraged after discovering bizarre detail on shipping label: 'This is just evil'

Printing return labels is already a hassle, whether you do it at home or go to a shipping store, but a Redditor discovered an additional wasteful irritation when they went to hit print.

In a subreddit for frustrating designs, the OP shared a photo of the return label for Vinted. This company does secondhand buying and selling in the U.K., with a large advertisement that they couldn't remove and had to spend ink on printing.

"It appears the resale shop Vinted have started advertising next to their shipping labels forcing their users to waste printer ink printing off (dark colour!) adverts," the angry OP wrote in the caption.

This is just another form of advertising inundation, with advertisements being forced on us in all manner of places, from train stations to beaches to fortune cookies. The excessive advertising drives overconsumption.

According to a study conducted by The Harris Poll, nearly 38% of American adults have purchased products advertised on social media, with 23% charging $1,000 or more on credit cards or buy now, pay later services, Credit Karma reported.

Advertising inundation also generally messes with our heads. A report in Teen Vogue found that advertising and influencers contribute to negative self-comparison, which in turn leads to overspending and excessive product consumption.

The advertisement on the return label is particularly insidious, coming from a business built on secondhand shopping, something meant to save money, that is instead forcing shoppers to waste ink on paper that has a lower chance of being recycled.

"This is just evil," one commenter wrote, wondering if it would be possible to print the label without the ad. (It technically is, but it's more steps, including cropping or editing the image before printing, making more work for the customer.)

Another added, "toxic way of wasting printer color."

One person joked, "These ads are sponsored by HP," a leading company in printer, ink, and paper sales.