More from the wellspring that is the company Intranet...
Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal refer to a study of low-carb dieters recently done by the NPD Group. NPD is one of the biggest market research firms, and puts together decent stuff.
One interesting result they found was that of the large chunks of people doing low-carb, only about a quarter of them are reducing levels to the lows recommended by their diets. Most are only going about half as far as they're supposed to. So, while a lot of people are jumping on this bandwagon, most are only hanging on to the edges, ready to hop off at any time.
The low-carb thing will be around for years to come, but it does look like it will be the fat-free craze of the decade. Low-carb is driving the food industry to respond, but there isn't true lasting power. This is not the true shape of things to come.
And yet the food industry is scrambling to conform. In the current economy, corporations are living in fear, quarter-to-quarter—the corporate equivalent of paycheck-to-paycheck. Even where I work they're rushing to be first-to-market on at least one reduced-carb item.
And one segment hit hard is juices and juice drinks. Sugars from liquids hit the system differently than sugars from whole fruits. So the Atkinsers and South Beachers are cutting out (or for some just cutting back on) juices. The juice industry isn't entirely sure how to respond. Proctor & Gamble just spun off Sunny Delight to focus on core products (specifically Folgers coffee and Pringles chips according to Progressive Grocer). P&G is a consumer food and beverage company. Them spinning off Sunny D is big. It means that they either can't afford to invest in it to grow it, or they don't see it as having a worthwhile life span—this for a product that had good potential to profit on the growing interest in health. They were positioning it strongly as the healthy alternative to sodas for kids. Juice drinks are still heavy in sugars and calories, but at least they have more vitamin and nutritional value than sodas (and no caffeine).
We live in a free market democracy. Every purchase is a vote. I believe that very strongly, and I think we're seeing that in action with the low-carb craze. People are voting with their wallets, and corporations are responding. We can work that in our favor if we choose to. The corporations will never do what's in our best interests on their own, they'll only do what we pay them to do. Corporations care only about money and profit. That's the nature of them, and I suspect that that will never change. But maybe money can be the carrot on the stick that we goad the corporate mule with. Maybe corporations can become the tools we use to get the things we need, rather than us being slaves to the big corporations. But it means we have to make our own decisions and stand by them, not just do what the commercials tell us to.
Posted by fictionman at April 7, 2004 06:51 AM