Frito-Lay gets hyped up on snack food
By Emily Senger - Sunday, December 9, 2012 - 0 Comments
These Cracker Jacks will perk you up after the 7th inning stretch
Photo Illustration By Lauren Cattermole; Courtesy Mcor Technologies
Cracker Jack is jacking up its popcorn with a new caffeine-infused version of the confection. Parent company Frito-Lay says the candy, called Cracker Jack’D, will be marketed in the U.S. only to adults, but the Center for Science in the Public Interest is raising alarm over the product, which will contain approximately 70 mg of caffeine in a two-ounce package (roughly the amount found in half a cup of coffee). In a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the health advocacy group says Cracker Jack’D is part of an alarming trend of adding caffeine to foods that are traditionally caffeine-free. Other caffeinated products released recently include a “water enhancer” from Kraft, jellybeans, waffles, syrup and even potato chips, as food manufacturers look to mimic the wild success of the energy drink sector, worth an estimated $8.9 billion in U.S. sales in 2011.
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Pitchmen with pitchforks
By Jessica Allen - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 9:45 AM - 0 Comments
Fast food restaurants are getting the farmers that grow their food to sell it too
Using the qualifier “natural” to sell food to a hungry public is nothing new. But mass-market food advertisers have recently taken the strategy to new heights by getting the people that actually grow the food to sell it, too. A new McDonald’s television ad, which opens with a farmer carrying a bushel of potatoes, drives home the idea that their fries are made with the same potatoes you mash at home. Wendy’s new TV ads show farmer Jim Carter eating the strawberries he grows that end up in the fast-food chain’s new salad. And the latest Lay’s ad campaign features the potato farmers who provide the produce for the company’s chips. (They also include a “chip tracker” on their website, where customers can enter a product code found on bags in order to find out exactly where the potatoes inside were harvested.) The underlying message seems to be, “Our food is made with food. And it’s grown by real farmers.” Continue…
