Why we're tiring of bizarre labels

Whether we are buying a tin of beans or a mobile phone, many of us feel little need to study the label.

But some makers, it seems, believe we need to be nannied.

Some brands of irons, for example, warn buyers to 'never iron clothes on the body'.

A child-sized Superman costume, meanwhile, bears the tag: 'Wearing this garment does not enable you to fly.'

Now a Top Ten of Britain's silliest packaging instructions has named and shamed the worst offenders.

In a hard-fought contest, a packet of Nytol sleep aid won with the warning: 'May cause drowsiness.'

Judges of the Ridiculous Packaging Instructions Award praised its ' masterful stating of the obvious'. Maker GlaxoSmithKline explained that the wording was a 'statutory requirement' on antihistamine products.

But David Fox, of the Word Centre consultancy, which organised the contest, said he hoped ignominy might force companies to avoid writing irrelevant messages.