Re-branding junk food: firm strategies

Résumé du document

American food habits are known to be particular: quickness and convenience are the key-words to describe this food culture that started up the fast food phenomenon, which rapidly spread around the world. Similarly, with ingenious marketing strategies, the Coca-Cola Company managed to reach the top of the most famous and most drunk beverages of the world. However, people have become more and more aware of the obesity problems linked to this “way of meal”, and to this fat, sweet and salted food and beverage mix. Thus, the US Department of Human Health and Services started to publish alarming statistics. In the last twenty years (from the early eighties to 2003), the obesity rate in the United-States has largely doubled, from 15 to 33% of the 20-74 aged American adults. At the same time, concerns were growing about the high level of risk linked to obesity, which provokes serious diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart diseases, strokes, respiratory problems, cancer… That is why the governments of many countries, where what has come to be called “junk food” is very popular, decided to take measures in order to tackle this issue which threatens public health.

Extraits

[...] Besides, advertising singing the praises of sweet or fat food is more and more controlled. For example, since March 2007, every advertisement for food or beverage that is considered as “unhealthy” has to carry an unwinding health message, such as " Pour votre santé, évitez de manger trop gras, trop sucré, trop salé" or "Pour voter santé, il est recommandé de manger 5 fruits ou légumes par jour". Private projects have also had a great impact to reveal all the hazards linked to junk food consumption and prevent people from falling into this kind of diet. [...]

[...] Thus, we have seen how the fast-food chain managed to keep its clients (Mac Donald's' managers foresee a 1 to growth of the number of the restaurants for next few years), even in these unpleasant days for junk food sellers. However, this new trend of “health-friendly” food has also hit other brands. One of them is often linked to MacDonald's, being the beverage that is most sold with MacDonald's meals: the coca-cola. We are now going to see how the Coca-Cola Company tries and manages to renew its brand too. [...]

[...] Indeed, the Coca-Cola Company owes its reputation thanks to inimitable marketing strategies that had managed to put its brand at the top for a long time. This is a well-known case of studies for marketing students, and the fierce competition with Pepsi has always encouraged Coca to do better. Thus, feeling the growing disapproval for drinking sodas full of sugar, Coca-Cola was a forerunner in 1982, when launching the Diet Coke, a sugar- free version of the Coca-Cola Company's flagship beverage. [...]

[...] The king of the marketing and communication has understood the power of the Internet, and that is why the brand has well-developed online marketing strategies. They take advantage of their websites to promote and to defend their beverages. A very good example comes from the Indian coca-cola website. Here is an extract of the website's FAQ (from the French “foire aux questions”): answers pre-written to apparently frequent questions: “INGREDIENTS Q. Can soft drinks be part of a healthy diet? Ans. [...]

[...] Someone in this case will automatically get fat (it is estimated that 100 calories that are not burnt each day will give one pound each month!). That is why eating a lot each day, and more particularly eating what is called “junk without making enough physical effort leads to obesity. This term junk food puts together all foodstuffs which are considered as very fat, very salty or very sweet: in a nutshell, everything that tastes a lot but does not contain vitamins or other vital elements. [...]