Have you ever had one of those 'pop-top' fruit drinks? They're aimed at kids, maybe about 200ml and taste like super strong, overly sweet cordial. They're disgusting, but they appeal to kids because they're more interesting than water, and they have a pop up lid. They appeal to parents because they fit into kids' lunchboxes, and it means their kids are drinking something. Plus, because it says 'fruit' on the front, parents can pretend it's healthy. Well, being a health teacher, I checked out the label. 25% fruit juice, and something like 50% sugar. BAD!
What a great niche market it would be to market healthy food that was appealing to kids. It seems like snack foods are either totally kid friendly (LCMs, etc) or totally boring. Lots of kids are quite happy to eat healthy food, but it needs to be marketed to the kids. Like these pop top drinks. One could EASILY produce water in the same shape bottles, and colour it with natural colours (not sugars), and maybe add a twist of fruit juice to flabour it. Voila. A healthy drink which fits in a lunch box (good for parents) and is bright and flavoured (good for kids). Easy.
Where health food companies are going wrong, I think, is not looking at the existing market. They need to check out what works for the current market leaders, and then, well, rip it off! Lots of the gimmicks can be reproduced with products which are not high in sugar, or with natural flavours and colours. Things like popcorn are really healthy, and kids love them- but the only version available are covoured in coloured sugar, or toffee. It's so easy to tweak.
Come on, health food manufacturers! You're missing out on the sales opportunity of a lifetime!
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4 comments:
Just read an article in The Age about sugary fruit drinks... it sounded oddly familiar!
That's a great idea! Health food companies always concentrate on marketing to parents, not kids.
I've seen this stuff about how bad fruit juice is, and I think it's mostly related to these "fruit drinks" which can have very little actual fruit in them. Not that the article went to any lengths to distinguish actual juice from "fruit drink".
Good idea. You could even take it one step further by using cartoon chartacter/kids movie tie-ins. If the Ninja Turtle soft drinks that came out in the 80s had been Ninja Turtle fruit juices (100% natural, no added sugar, of course), kids would have still wanted them.
I read the Age article too. But I am more on this kick because of my work. The Age just happens to be interested in the same stuff. Copy cats.
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