PLANO, TX — Recipes for more than six dozen varieties of Frito-Lay snacks, including Lay's potato chips, Tostitos and SunChips, will be reformulated in the coming year so that 50 percent of the company's products are made only with natural ingredients, the firm said this week.
PepsiCo's Frito-Lay North America division, which has pursued greener manufacturing facilities, transportation and packaging, announced the ingredients change on Tuesday and described the marketing blitz that will promote the product reformulation. Frito-Lay said the largest integrated marketing campaign in company history launches on New Year's Day during the Tostito Fiesta Bowl.
In addition to television and print ads and in-store promotions, the company plans to make extensive use of digital and social media. The firm already has a presence on Twitter and Facebook. Frito-Lay said most of its ads in 2011 will list branded Facebook pages and, for the first time, packaging will list them as well. The firm contends that move will enable it to "claim the broadest portfolio of consumer products that include a Facebook URL on packaging to date."
"Throughout the campaign, Frito-Lay is highlighting our 'seed to shelf' story,' " said Ann Mukherjee, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Frito-Lay. "We are pulling back the curtain and inviting consumers to learn how our products are created, from our kitchen into theirs."
According to the company, the snacks made with "all-natural" ingredients will not contain artificial or synthetic ingredients, flavors, preservatives or additives such as monosodium glutamate.
In a blog post about Frito-Lay's plans, green marketing expert Suzanne Shelton lauded the company, but she also warned about the "Snackwell Effect" -- the tendency to consume more of something, from cookies to electricity, because steps have been taken to ease the impact of consumption, such as making the sweets lower in calories or installing energy-saving fixtures and appliances. Shelton urged Frito-Lay to "give consumers the straight story about natural vs. healthy/good for you" snacks.
Frito-Lay broached that subject in the social media as chat about its reformulation plan began to burble on the company's Facebook and Twitter pages this week.
Image CC licensed by Flickr user espensorvik.
I can't believe this is
I can't believe this is reported; Greenbiz, by doing so you are making a mistake that will lose the trust of readers. "All-Natural" is a totally meaningless description that does not merit the slightest attention. Now, if they suddenly announced "Our products will no longer contain GMO corn and soy", THAT would be meaningful.
I guess we'll have to see how
I guess we'll have to see how "all-natural" these products end up being. It's kind of sad that the exclusion of artificial ingredients like MSG is something to be applauded these days. I think that big companies have duped the general population into believing that the foods that they produce could actually be called "food." My big concern would be the ingredients themselves and whether or not GMO (genetically modified) food stuffs are going to be used in their products. It isn't enough to be "all-natural" anymore because the government has watered down the acceptable standards for all-natural. I will have to say that it's a start. It might be a late start, but it's a start.
Its sad that so many of our
Its sad that so many of our "comfort foods" have changed so drastically over the years. Kraft Mac & Cheese, Spaghetti-o's, Lays Potato Chips. Oreo Cookies. Pepsi etc. We have to admit that the taste is gone!! The texture is different, I know its not just me. Since researching this topic I know now that my Dad is not going crazy. He started about 5 or so years ago complaining about the foods we bought and kept in the house "go to" foods or "quick comfort" foods we call them. He started to throw away unopened cans of Ravoli's, Spaghetti-o's, Honey Comb cereal etc. He was nuts "I thought" I talked it over with my Mom and we started trying out different foods we came to know and love. Peanut Butter changed, Soda Pop changed, chips, cookies, V8 Juice I could go on and on. I find it strange that parents have fed so much of this "comfort food" to their children that we are now faced with an epidimic of childhood obesity and companies scrambling to alter ingredients so that the products are "healthy" for children to eat. It used to be that "JUNK FOOD" was allowed only once in a while on special occasions or when you were old enough to buy your own groceries. Maybe the companies figured that if the taste was horrid many people would stop eating the "junk foods" completely. Stupid because they can't make money on products that the country refuses to buy. My father has said it only takes one generation to accept the taste change of a product. Take for example "Tang" my Dad had admitted that it was "nasty" "disgusting" and he could not believe how kids were "drinking it down" due to the marketing blitz something about space travel & drinking Tang would make you just like the "astronauts." Now he says adults accept orange "drink" as normal and they find it tasty and refreshing. It has taken only one generation to accept the notion of an orange "drink" not orange "juice" as perfectly acceptable and normal. This is the same with "healthy" junk foods. My children and their friends will never know how an Oreo cookie is supposed to taste, or how a can of Spaghetti-o's were so yummy you wanted to eat them cold right out of the can, or crave the zesty, sharp cheezy taste of Kraft Mac & Cheese. Too bad that we loved these tastes so much we wanted out kids to enjoy them as well but we didn't know when to pull in the reins and say "no more" you can only have three cookies or a handful of chips. Children eat the whole bag, box or package this is why companies have to take matters into their own hands and change the nutrition content of our "junk foods"