Mars already dominates the chocolate-confectionery business in the American market. Now, the Mt. Olive, NJ-based candy giant would like to dictate how US food and beverage companies label their packages.

The Food & Drug Administration is expected to propose guidelines soon that will require CPG companies to provide simple, meaningful nutritional information on the front of their packages – and not just the rear. Furthermore, they're expected to require all food and beverage brands to keep cockamamie, grandiose or confusing claims off of packaging.

At first in Europe and now in the US, Mars has been rolling out a simple nutritional scoring system on all of its products based on “Guideline Daily Amounts” (GDA) of calories and key nutrients.Continue reading...

Once upon a time there was just Red Bull. Today, however, the brand finds itself fighting to stay alive in one of the most viscously competitive consumer markets around. Ironically, it's a market the brand practically created.

To stay ahead, the brand employs all manner of brand-building measures, some conventional, some not. The brand runs standard 30-second TV commercials about the drink "giving you wings." It also underwrites F1 racecars and sponsors star athletes like Olympic gold medalists Lindsey Vonn and Shaun "Flying Tomato" White. The brand's less conventional sports sponsorships include airplane races and "soapbox derbies." But one Red Bull promotion is wildly unique. Continue reading...

One of the staples of the American fast food diet is ketchup – and nine times out of ten, that ketchup is made by H. J. Heinz Co.

But even the world's most popular ketchup, introduced in 1876, can't avoid modern-day marketing.

Heinz just announced that it will be reformulating its core ketchup recipe to reduce the amount of sodium in the product. Heinz will also introduce "Simply Heinz" next month, a new ketchup product that will replace the high fructose corn syrup in its regular ketchup with sugar. It will cost the same as regular Heinz ketchup. Both moves are designed to improve the nutritional content of the company's famous tomato-based condiment.Continue reading...

A five-part Global Post investigation charges big-name brands like Apple and Microsoft with sourcing from exploitative factories in Asia guilty of human rights and work safety offenses. But do consumers even care?

Sweatshop scandals make for eye-catching headlines, but seem to have little impact on a company's image or bottom line. Consumers are able to compartmentalize their own priorities the far-off needs of strangers.Continue reading...

"Opportunity" is right there, representing the "O," in any SWOT analysis. But sometimes, marketers mistake that "O" for "Opportunist." Such may be the case with Kellogg.

As the nation goes berserker from worries of H1N1 flu, a.k.a. swine flu, Kellogg started putting messaging on their cereal box packages claiming "Now helps support your child's IMMUNITY." That this messaging was on brands such as Cocoa Krispies raised eyebrows.

Coincidence? Maybe. Kellogg spokeswoman Susanne Norwitz protested, "It was not created to capitalize on the current H1N1 flu situation," claiming the marketing line was planned a year ago (probably true).Continue reading...

Maybe eating those Cocoa Puffs isn’t so smart after all.

Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration announced it’s taking a closer look at the Smart Choices program, which qualifies products based on a set of nutritional data. Today, the food industry group behind the program – which includes major brands and brand families from Unilever to ConAgra – announced it will no longer encourage the use of its logo, featuring a green checkmark, on food packaging. (The logo will still be in use voluntarily, however, by brands including Kraft Foods.)

Last month, the New York Times revealed that the 500 "Smart Choices" included mayonnaise, Fudgsicle bars, and enough sugary cereals to power an elementary school playground. Nutritionists were outraged. Consumers, having to decipher yet another piece of information on a food package, were likely confused (which was, arguably, the program's intention).Continue reading...