"Brand currency, the value generated from our investments, is not equal to spending more time with people but making the time they have to spend with us more valuable."
- Helge Tennø
“Natural” Lies
More marketing lies. Spotting these are becoming a bit too easy. What a shame.
A Globe & Mail article suggests that meat packaging companies have been misleading consumers with their “natural” product lines that claim they do not contain artificial preservatives such as nitrates. Read it here or get the crux of it below.
As marketers we have an obligation to tell the truth not mislead consumers. That’s not marketing.
From the article:
“Maple Leaf Foods uses a boy named Dylan Carter in a commercial for its Natural Selections brand. A butcher explains in a voiceover that Dylan’s parents wouldn’t let him eat hot dogs because of added preservatives, so the company made one with “no artificial preservatives and ingredients his parents can actually pronounce.”
The promises tap into the mindset of consumers looking to avoid artificial ingredients with complex names such as sodium erythorbate. For this reason, many are willing to pay higher prices for “natural” processed meats.
But the ads and packages for these new meat products don’t mention that they contain cultured celery extract, which is a source of nitrates and nitrites – preserving agents linked to an increased risk of heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.”
Yikes. And a great example of the disconnect between marketing and product development. Marketers make a promise. The product doesn’t hold up.
After, all of the controversy around Maple Leaf only a few years ago you would think they would get their act together…
Oh Porter Airlines. I feel for you. I really do. In September they ran a campaign announcing their last promo sale. Radio spots said it would be the last sale ever. Discounts are like a drug. You really can’t just stop because you’ve trained people to only buy on sale. Run a discount, sales go up but only temporarily. It’s never sustained. And that’s the problem here with Porter. Regular consumers don’t buy Porter when its not on sale. So their marketing department runs another sale hoping nobody will notice or care…
"The richest society the world has ever seen has grown rich by devising better and better ways to give people what they want."
- Michael Lewis, Vanity Fair
