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Monday, August 16, 2010

Food Manufacturer Criticized for Pro-ED Messages in Ad Campaigns

Pretzel Crisps are gaining popularity. The light, pretzel-like snacks are lower in salt, fat and calories, making them a good choice for people who are trying to be healthy. Unfortunately, in its attempt to build market share, Pretzel Crisps maker Snack Factory released a controversial ad campaign -- and a "replacement" that wasn't much better than the original one.

"You can never be too thin" [the ad] reads. Well, one quick Google search and we could find you at least one hundred or so people who are – and hundreds of people have taken to telling the crisp company exactly that by defacing its ads with "actually, you can" and other things that are far too naughty to print on here.” [Source: My Fashion Life]

The company got the hint and changed the ad. Snack Factory Vice President of Marketing Perry Abbenante issued an apology, saying the company didn’t intend to advocate unhealthy weight loss.

Unfortunately, the company’s second advertising attempt wasn’t much better. The new slogan? “Tastes as good as skinny feels.” Complaints are already pouring in.


 

Labels: advertising, pro-ana

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton

Comments:

Kensington on 9/3/2010
The old "You can never be too thin" saying is not only misguided and sometimes downright dangerous, but I think it's a cop-out as far as an ad campaign goes. Aren't we supposed to buy this product because it tastes really good? I understand they want to sell the lower calorie aspect, but if all they can come up with is "Let's correlate our food product with a deadly medical problem", then they lose points in not just credibility but creativity.