Yeah, Nah Awards: Pams sticky plasters that don’t really stick

We rounded up 20 Consumer staff, family and friends to trial 3 popular plastic plasters.

The Pams product was the least sticky by far, so we’ve awarded it the ‘“You Had One Job”’ Award in our second annual Yeah, Nah Awards.

What we did

Volunteers each chose a spot on their body and attached 3 plasters there.

• An Elastoplast Plastic strip

• A Pams Plastic Plaster Strip

• A Band-Aid Plastic sterile strip.

Pams plasters were far less sticky

Triallists recorded when each plaster started looking scruffy at the edges and when each began to peel off or need replacing.

On average, both the Elastoplast and Band-Aid plasters lasted for close to a day before starting to show signs of wear around the edges. Then, they hung on for about a day and a half before needing replacement.

By contrast, most of the Pams plasters our triallists used were starting to lift at the edges after just 5 hours. They then began to peel off after only 14 hours.

That kind of performance handily qualifies for a Yeah, Nah Award. The Pams plasters simply weren’t doing their job.

Pams is an own brand for Foodstuffs, the grocery cooperative that owns New World, Pak’nSave and Four Square.

A spokesperson said Foodstuffs had reviewed customer feedback on Pams plasters and found no consistent issues with adhesion.

“Between June 2023 and October 2025, only a small number of complaints were received, and all were investigated,” they said. “No quality concerns were identified.”

Put your money where your injury is

We also asked our triallists whether they’d buy each product themselves.

12 out of 20 people (60%) said they’d buy the Elastoplast strip, with the same result for Band-Aid.

Only 3 people – 15% of the triallists – said they’d buy Pams. It’s not exactly a roaring endorsement.

For this trial, we intentionally picked each brand’s cheapest, most basic offering – no fabric, no water-resistant coating and no extra-wide sizing.

The Pams plasters are cheaper, at 8c a piece, versus 12c and 14c respectively for the Band-Aid and Elastoplast options.

Still, if you replaced the Pams plaster more than twice as often, as our trial indicates, the budget brand could cost you more than the big brands.

The Elastoplasts we trialled are sold at both New World and Pak’nSave, while the Band-Aids are available at New World. Four Square stocks vary by store.

Woolworths doesn’t have a house brand plaster but also stocks Elastoplast and Band-Aid.

A word from our triallists

What would home science be without colourful commentary? Our trial participants had some choice words to describe their experience with the Pams product.

“It actually shocked me how poorly this stuck. It just gathered and bunched up.”

“If I had an actual open wound, this would provide little protection from infection.”

“Plaster completely fell off after first hand wash. Just over 1 hour since applied.”

“The gap around the middle pad was gaping wide. I could fit my whole finger through it.”