G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times
When I first heard about the "Smart Choices" Food Labeling campaign backed by most of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, I thought it was a great idea. Read the article in the NY Times here. But, now after reading more about it and seeing that the nothing but sugar and artificial flavor ridden Coca Krispies and Froot Loops are included in this campaign, I'm not so sure anymore.
This looks like great idea from a marketing and branding standpoint as big name brands are loosing huge chunks of market share to store brands, local brands, and natural or organic choices. However, isn't this really just another marketing gimmick that is attempting to fix the Fourth P of Product from the Marketing Mix developed by Professor Borden in the 1960s? What's worse is that just like the American car industry, instead of actually fixing the PRODUCT they are trying to pull the wool over the consumers eyes with new and fancy packaging. Just like the American car industry - where if they had kept up with the competition and innovated instead of resting comfortably and EXPECTING demand to continuously increase- the food manufactures wouldn't be in a bind if they offered less expensive and innovate (organic/natural/green/local/etc) product.
This is the label that is starting to show up on products
I can honestly say that the inclusion of Coca Krispies and Froot Loops prove that this new "Smart Choices" labeling is nothing but a farce by the industry to try and artificially create a spike in demand for the food that once consumers see the truth will backfire and end up hurting them.
Hey US Food Industry: Fix the product, do actual branding! Don't just slap a new "made up" label that deceives consumers on you products!
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