While there’s a lot of companies promoting value in their promotions right now, we recently noticed a couple of fast food companies advertising the use of real ingredients in their advertising recently. One ad on US TV comes from McDonalds and describes the real ingredients found in the chain’s food (We can’t find the ad on YouTube – sorry). Meanwhile, with the slogan of “Choose Real Taste” Pizza Hut have launched their Natural pizza “to meet the demands of changing consumer taste.” The ad supporting the new product tells you that this range of pizzas don’t even have chemicals (but leaves you wondering what’s in the other ones the sell!).
In a press release, the fast food retailer says:
“Our customers have made a very clear statement: all-natural ingredients are an important part of their food choices,” said Scott Bergren, Pizza Hut President. “The Natural is a delicious and affordable way to give our customers the ingredients they want in a pizza that we’re sure they will love. With the Natural, you get a premium pizza without having to pay a premium price; it’s available for just $9.99.”
The all-natural taste of The Natural extends from toppings to the crust. The Natural is topped with a sauce made from vine-ripened tomatoes and all-natural mozzarella cheese. There are no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. With eight grams of whole grains per slice, The Natural pizza has earned the seal of approval from the Whole Grains Council.
Research by the Daily Spark does suggest that the pizza isn’t quite revolutionary: all of Pizza Hut’s pizzas use the same sauce, pepperoni and sausage and the Natural range is not organic. However, the Naturals use a crust that contains unenriched, unbleached wheat flour, and smaller amounts of whole wheat flour, barley, rye, oats and millet. It also uses a different cheese than the other pizzas.
We’re left wondering – should we be concerned with fast food companies’ “naturalwashing” or should we be happy that they’re making small steps towards healthier food? Thoughts?the
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not surprised.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:59 am
This seems like a good idea strategically. I think that people’s notion of value has changed recently. In the restaurant biz, “value” no longer means a lot of mediocre food for a cheap price. If consumers are going to spend the money right now, the quality better meet or exceed expectations…and be priced fairly.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:49 pm
not a surprising move, every industry study is saying consumers are looking for more organic/natural/healthy…etc… choices, but do they really want that when they’re ordering pizza? I think its a case of consumers saying one thing and ordering another. Anyway there are so many other choices if you want to eat healthy, pizza not being one of them. when you order pizza-hut you’re kind of looking for the full-on, chemical filled, flavor-enhanced, processed cheese food, crap-fest that it is. I think Americans still like good tasting, crap food as much as they used to.
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 am
Quality will be the one of the new buzzwords of 2009 and next wave of recession messaging right on the heals of value’s late round punch in ‘08. You’ll soon find out everything that’s a “great value” will now also be of “great quality.” It’s not to say these tactics have not been utilized in the past. However, it’s another story when this ubiquitous word is generally relied upon as a compelling point-of-difference. What fast food joint these days aren’t touting fresh, real, premium, natural, hand-cut these days
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
“to meet the demands of changing consumer taste.” Oh, we’ve made a revolutionary change to natural foods now? It’d be revolutionary to come clean with the before/after pix.
January 25th, 2009 at 12:58 am