2.1 min. read
It’s a little bit like a Waltz that turned into a Square Dance. The Junk Food universe is seeing an unprecedened blurring of the lines between different classes of beverages, of salty snacks, and different classes of ‘healthy’ noshes…
It’s amazing, really. Soda makers are going in directions that once would have been considered pol-emic to their classic orientation. And salty snack makers are espousing ‘healthy’ identities. All in a desperate attempt to meet the evolving needs of their fans. And stay ahead of the competition in the market-share sweepstakes…
A crowded universe
Scientists currently believe the physical universe will either continue to expand forever, eventually coming apart into an amorphous soup of objects from the size of suns own to individual atoms of hydrogen. Or, they say, it might reach a point where it collapses in on itself in a reverse Big Bang. Either way, it ceases to exist as any kind of cohesive concept.
The UPF (Junk Food) universe is likewise evolving, sometimes in ways that surprise even the most seasoned market analysts.
So it is that, in shockingly short order, the soda makers, salty snack maker, sweet snack makers and healthy snack makers have begun to invade each other’s territories.
Caught in a squeeze
All the ’empty Calories’ (EC) edibles makers are caught in the same squeeze. They’re in max-saturated markets with no new space to explore in their traditional directions. At the same time, new players are coming into their games sensing vulnerability in the established brands.
The new kids are also taking advantage of the blurring of identities taking place across the EC uni-verse. Soda and salty snack makers are adding ‘functional’ ingredients to appear healthier.
Meanwhile, functional beverage makers such as Gatorade brand out into more-‘recreational’ formuae and formats. All in a desperate attempt to maintain – ideally, grow – their market share.
A case in point
Amid this marketing melee, Pepsi has emerged as the latest player to try something newer and even farther out than it has already tried…
Pepsi Prebiotic Cola is, “[d]esigned to meet the changing consumer preferences for more functional ingredients,” and, “rounds out a full portfolio of cola choices for today’s consumer.”
It wasn’t enough that Pepsi had already offered a zero-sugar version of its flagship product. It had apparently not gone far enough by actively phasing out artificial colours and flavours. It now had to add something overtly healthy to stay ahead of the other guys. To introduce, “the first significant innovation in the traditional cola category in 20 years.”
Not just soda
While standard Pepsi sodas do not contain protein, parent company PepsiCo has expanded protein offerings across other beverage and nutrition brands in its portfolio, such as reformulated Muscle Milk lines and upcoming protein-enhanced options under Propel and Starbucks brand collaborations.
My take
Where will it all end? Will the Junk Food Universe continue to expand forever and blur until there are no longer any distingishable product categories at all? Or will it collapse into itself in a reverse Big Bang event that leaves only a single, super-dense ‘uniproduct’ that fills all the snacking needs and desires of all people? Like science fiction’s distopian Soylent Green or UBIK?
~ Maggie J.