Monday, June 2, 2008

Less something does not mean more healthy

Gotta love the marketing folks - even they are playing the green game. Today's Marketing Prof's Daily Fix blog discusses how many convenience food companies are ramping up "healthier" products for big profits.

Ted Mininni quotes liberally from the Reuters article "Food makers look to health as downturn defense," where execs predict strong revenue growth from enhanced (or detracted from) food products: low-fat, less sugar, more antioxidants and whole-grains.

Sure, we're getting lighter. In the wallet.

I think what we're forgetting in all this that much of what these companies are doing are just spinning a product based on convenience, and we're all buying into it.

I saw on a bottle of Diet Pepsi the other day some logo stating that it's healthy. Nevermind that it's loaded with chemicals and, in my opinion, it tastes like battery acid. But because there is no fat or sugar, it's deemed as a healthy choice. Now, does that make Diet Coke with Vitamins even healthier?

I liken this change in the convenience food industry to the low-sugar/low-fat phases that we went through several years back. This time, it's putting a little more of a technical spin on it, such as "probiotics" or other terms that the general public doesn't get. But they're scared enough to look into it. And if the box says healthy, it must be true, right?

(Expanded from my original comment on the marketingprof blog earlier today.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must admit that at times, these clever marketers have gotten the best of my willingness to embrace new healthy food solutions. Whenever I see something in the grocery store that says NEW!, or something I haven't tried before, I always have to try it to give my personal seal of approval. I guess I'm partly responsible for making these corporations richer, but I try to use my best discretion in judging what's best, and what isn't for my body and my family. I also try my best to live in a greener household. I have done so by replacing the light bulbs in my house to energy efficient ones, and switching from regular oil heat to bioheat.

Has anyone here ever considered switching from regular oil heat to bioheat? Has anyone here ever heard of it? I think it's an amazing alternative to regular oil heat, because it's clean burning and uses a b5 blend of vegetable and plant oils. I think everyone who wants to live in a greener household should seriously consider making the switch! It's easy, and no extra costs are involved. Just go on to http://oilheatamerica.com/index.mv?screen=bioheat and read more about it!

Robbie said...

Bioheat is not a consideration for me - I'm all-electric.

Anonymous said...

No problem rjs, we all have our preferences! I just hope people make up their own minds about bioheat without outside pressures! Anyone else get to read up about it?