The Next Junk Food Craze
By: Anthony Adragna
Published: March 24, 2011

Are you ready for it? Well, according to an article in Fast Company, one company thinks they've stumbled on the next big thing. They've invested money into developing colorful bags, hilarious new TV spoofs and a social media juggernaut. So what is this product? Baby carrots. Yeah, that's right. Baby carrots.
A couple of years ago, after many years of growth, sales of baby carrots began to fall. And fall precipitously. People wondered why. CEO Jeff Dunn led a company called Bolthouse, one of the nation's largest carrot growers, to set about finding answers. They discovered that people were actually eating the same number of carrots, but buying fewer. They opted for large carrots, sold in bulk at the supermarket. The recession made those carrots easier to buy and often times the vegetables would languish in the food drawer.
An advertising push had paid off for other crops like avocados and milk, so the carrot people decided for a new push. Previously, they had never invested any money in ads. They are now working to brand baby carrots as junk food, and not vegetables. Sales are up in the two trial markets by 10-12%. Look for a larger advertising push to begin shortly.
One of the most interesting aspects of the campaign is that the carrot makers do not plan to stress the healthiness of baby carrots in marketing them. They argue that it would be a waste of money to tell people vegetables are healthy and good for them. True, but as nutritional awareness increases, maybe people would appreciate giving their kids a cool-looking healthy lunchbox alternative.
For more, see the full article and check out some of the TV ads below. What do you think of this new campaign?
Photos by Eater/ Dan4th

Comments:
Janice Harper
March 24, 2011

Oh how funny!  They should play up how eating a lot of carrots turns you orange.  Get Carrot Top to pitch them as an alternative to steroids.  Drench them in sugary and salty batters and deep fry in lard.  Radiate them until they glow in the dark.  The possibilitie are endless.
Christie Ison

My question is this....will they be the REAL baby carrots (actual, small, early-picked), or the now-prevalent ones made by shaving down bigger ones? I haven't been able to find the former for years. They were yummy and sweet. I would gladly eat those like junk food.