Monday, I was innocently watching the Bachelorette after eating the
world’s greatest kale salad (part of our dream July 4th menu). I was
in a pretty good mood until a commercial came on. Two women come in from a
tough workout, they are exhausted. One of them goes to the fridge and pulls out
Reddi Whip (naturally, who wouldn’t think workout then whipped “cream”). Her
friend asks, “what are you going to do throw away the past hour?” With that
nasty squirt sound, the fridge friend says, “of course not, it’s only 15
calories” and ruins a bowl of berries with a plop of canned crap.
Is this seriously an angle they are trying to take? I get
that unhealthy products exist. I even can sort of grasp the fun factor with the
desserts mentioned on the RW site such as “Berry Patriotic Pie” etc.
 |
| This, gross as it is, makes more sense than RW = healthy |
There are even some
other undertones (not really sure why one friend has to lie down on the floor
hmn) in the workout commercial that seem plausible than squirting some weirdly
spelled faux cream at any time especially after a great workout. What’s even crueler
is what this TV spot preys on. It’s very easy to fall into the “I deserve” a treat post
workout mindset. RW’s advertising company is saying now you can have your cake
and eat it too.
And what exactly would you be eating for “only 15 calories?”
This is where things get really funny. On the Reddi site they have a comparison of Reddi Wip to its competitor Cool Whip. Get this, RW has No Hydrogenated
Fats! And, the first ingredient is “real cream”! Do they think that with cream
as a first ingredient we will not notice “propellant” a few ingredients away?
Or the sweetener party that will only inflame your body after that workout? This "I'm better than you marketing" drives me nuts. It's not about what's absent from a product but what worth (or worthlessness) the product contains. Does "I didn't murder that person, I only seriously harmed them" sound insane? Well this is food insanity.
When I told Carolyn about this post she asked, “do people
still use Reddi Wip?” And maybe this is a desperate attempt by an ad agency to
reposition a brand. I just don’t get it, Do marketers think people are this
stupid? It’s like the Oscar Meyer spot that touts that their dogs are gluten
free (and made from dog meat). Or wait, are there people that watch and say,
wow that red can may hold the answer to my post snack workout snack question?
And please, I know how you think and do not judge bachelorette viewers.
Have you seen this
commercial? Do you think it’s just advertisers being advertisers or is this
super sneaky? Any other commercials that bug you? Who should Desiree pick?
I have not seen the Bachelorette, or this commercial, but I've seen other stuff like this and it really gets me too. It feeds into the mentality that people think just because something is "only 15 calories" then it must be good for you. Diet Coke has 0 calories but is decidedly not good for you. I'm a reformed Diet Coke drinker - my husband once asked me why I don't just get it at Costco because it's cheaper, but I told him at that time I'm not ready to admit I have that much of a problem. I stay away from pretty much any artificial sweetener nowadays. If something tastes sweet it should be because it has sugar in it - either natural (like from fruit) or from actual sugar.
ReplyDeleteAs to your question, do they think people are this stupid, I think the answer is clearly yes, and it's because a lot of people really are that stupid. They believe this stuff because they want it to be true. It's harder to believe the truth, that we can't eat like that and be healthy at the same time.
I'm also surprised that people actually still eat Reddi Whip. I haven't seen it for a while...
ReplyDeleteI don't eat anything after a workout but fake cream probably wouldn't be on my list of things if I did.
I don't watch the Bachelorette so no judgment here. I used to watch Bachelor and that was more my speed.
And unlike a few posts ago, here is where i want to hide that i am in the marketing industry... ughh
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can say is that I think in general consumers are getting smarter (or at least more informed). The stats on how many people are surfing the web while watching tv are insane--it seems no one just watches tv anymore. So here's to hoping they google "Is reddiwhip really a good after workout snack?" and get this blog post instead!
Side note: eating sardines with avo and salad for lunch--i'm a convert.
cracking up "a lot of people are that stupid" thanks for that Jen.
ReplyDeleteOh boy. This is a result of so many ridiculous things:
ReplyDelete- fear that consumers are smarter (tho if they are smarter, why aren't they making better choices)
- reaction to the trend of "homemade" - people are beginning to realize there are some things that are easier/better/cheaper to make themselves (and, um, I can't think of anything easier than homemade whipped cream)
- a focus on a new target audience (younger, more health conscious, which is ridiculous) stemming from millions of $$'s of research over the last x# of years that "proves" this is where the "white space is"
- very possible a client who says "we need to be a healthy brand, everyone else is healthy!" even thought the agency might say "not a good idea"
But if this campaign went into any sort of testing, I would love to see what the results were because it just seems ridiculous.
Regardless, this is a perfect example of what makes me crazy (not in a good way) about my industry.
And, um, for the record, homemade (unsweetened) whipped cream takes like 2 minutes and tastes a zillion times better than the stuff that looks like foam insulation.
HOw di dI miss this commercial?!?! Well, we TiVo through most of them. The commercials these days are all about sex. NO matter what. Have you seen the Kraft ZESTY dressing commercials? Gag me.
ReplyDeleteDesiree has slim pickins', I'll tell you that much. I don't really like any of them so far.
I would so accept the sexy RW angle versus this. Haven't seen ZESTY, do tell... And finally another bachelorette viewer, I say Chris for Desiree but don't think that'll happen.
ReplyDeleteI hate to sound so pessimistic but there are plenty of people who are really THAT stupid. Boggles my mind.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have cool whip or reddi whip here in Australia but it sounds like a lot of diet food designed to draw ppl in with a low calorie count but so utterly full of crap!
ReplyDeleteI saw the commercial, it was extremely bizarre
ReplyDelete